Red Tips
by Shayza100
Summary: Alright so this is just a type it and go story *like everything else I write* It involves my OC, Arcas Kellarov. If you wanna know more about her go on deviantART and search that name. ANYWAY Sci-Fi romance between her and Darth Maul. No real storyline yet :)
1. Chapter 1

"Yeah! He was all like zoom! Werrrm! Chaaa!" a young boy was describing his adventure in the desert to a young girl. She was staring at him with wide eyes,

"And Master Qui-Gon defeated him?" she asked.

"Almost! The ship picked us up and we left him in the dust!" the boy answered.

"What'd he look like?" the girl asked.

"I don't know. Qui-Gon ordered me to duck and I ran to the ship. But he had a red lightsaber and was wearing a black hood!" the boy explained to her. She clapped her hands,

"That sounds so exciting! Have you heard anything else?"

"Nah. Qui-Gon has been too focused on getting the Queen back here." The boy answered. He craned his head as he heard Qui-Gon calling his name,

"Hey I gotta go! What's your name? Maybe I can come back and tell you more stories!"

The girl smiled,

"I'm Arcas. What's yours?"

"Anakin. Bye!" the boy said and he turned and ran.

**Years Later**

Arcas watched as her childhood friend Anakin Skywalker strolled the Temple. She glided up to him,

"Hello my friend! How's life for you these days?"

"Arcas! Hello! No, never a boring day with a Padawan like mine!" Anakin laughed, "How goes it for you?"

"Not too bad. I am finally a Jedi Knight!" Arcas smiled. Anakin smiled happily for her,

"Oh ya when'd that happen?"

"A few years ago, but it seems whenever I was here you weren't and vice versa!"

Arcas was about to say something else but then Master Obi Wan hurried up to Anakin.

"Anakin. Where is Master Yoda?" Obi Wan asked.

"Uh… I think in his meditation room. Why Master?" Anakin said, confused.

"Remember that Sith who killed Qui Gon? The one who tried to kill you on Tatooine?" Obi Wan asked. Anakin nodded.

"Well somehow he has survived and now he's back." Obi Wan finished.

Anakin looked stunned,

"How?!"

"I don't know, but Master Yoda will know what to do." Obi Wan looked ahead and attempted to hurry off to find Yoda. Arcas stepped out of his way, she turned to Anakin,

"Is he talking about the same man you told me about all those years ago?"

"The very same."

Arcas crept up to the Council room and listened in…

"Letting this get personal, you are Master Kenobi." She heard Yoda say. Obi Wan hummed and hawed a bit, trying to get the Council to set up a search party to bring in the ruthless Sith assassin. Arcas heard the movement of feet and hid behind a pillar. She came out of hiding when she saw Obi Wan walk out.

"Anakin told me about that man when he first came to the Temple. He sounded very dangerous. What was he like in reality?" she asked.

"Even worse than before. He had that monster that killed the Toydarian king with him. They are a force to be reckoned." Obi Wan murmured. Arcas looked down and bowed to the master.

She then left and hurried to the archives, maybe she could find an image of this Sith. She was very curious about who he was. It had been a rumor throughout her entire childhood that Obi Wan had sliced the Sith in half as an apprentice. It was said that his appearance was like looking into a demon itself and that his behavior was just as bad. But none of the younglings had ever seen a glimpse of what the monster looked like. She slide her hand over the door and it opened. Arcas walked in and up to the librarian,

"Hi. Do you have anything on that Sith that murdered Master Qui Gon?"

"Why would you be interested in that?" the librarian asked.

"I've been assigned a scouting mission and I thought maybe I'd do a little research before heading off to find him. Maybe any history on him might help me find him and report his actions." Arcas lied. The librarian seemed satisfied with that and sent her off in a direction. Arcas bowed and thanked the librarian for her help. She hurried to the section the librarian had suggested and found a small Holocron on him. She found an image of his face and gasped. He was something to look at. She was amazed at his tattoos. She noticed something about him though. She looked closer and saw he had protruding horns. She ran her fingers over her face and felt hers. He was the male opposite of her!

"He's a Zabrak…" she whispered to herself. There had never been many of them in the Jedi Temple because of the anger they had, but when the Jedi were desperate they acquired Zabrak force sensitive children. Zabraks were known for their ruggedness and hardiness in battle, but they had a lot of darkness due to Sith visitation long ago on their home planet, Iridonia. The Jedi saw darkness in every Zabrak that was seen throughout the galaxy. Arcas herself had been lucky to train as a Jedi…

She shook herself out of her thoughts and returned to her "scouting" research. She saw he had not been very well known until recently. His log of criminal activities was astoundingly long. She saw the name Opress in there very often, 'That must be the murderer of the Toydarian king'. She kept scrolling through until she saw a list of his recent sightings. His most recent one had been at the home base of the Black Sun organization. She closed the Holocron and hurried out of the library. The Zabrak Sith had intrigued her, he had evoked something in her that seemed to have been dormant. She desperately wanted to see who he was in person. Arcas hurried to her chambers and paced back and forth thinking.

"How can I spy on him? How can I spy on him?" she kept repeating herself. She decided her only choice was to travel to the Black Sun base herself. Arcas packed up a few of her belongings in a bag and hurried to the lower levels of the Temple.

She was about to enter the hangar when her friend, Kellina ran up to her.

"Arcas! Where are you off to?" Kellina asked.

"I've been assigned a scouting mission." Arcas said, using the same lie.

"Ooh! Who are you scouting out?!" Kellina asked excitedly.

"I don't know. I didn't get a name. Just his location. They said I'll know who he is by the vibe he gives off." Arcas said, "I'm sorry Kell, but I've really gotta go!"

She hurried off and jumped in a ship. She set her coordinates to the base.


	2. Chapter 2

Arcas went over her plan in her head a million times. She had to make sure that no one saw her or knew of her allegiance to the Jedi. The Black Sun crew was not a very friendly group. Her monitor beeped to alert her that she was within range of the base. She breathed in deeply and let out slowly, calming her nerves.

She landed quietly on a cliff over looking the landing platform. She saw a Mandalorian ship with Death Watch markings all over it, 'Good they're still here' she thought. She was about to jump off the cliff over the lava when a hand grabbed her elbow. Arcas gasped as the hand pulled her back,

"Are you the extra we called for?" a female Zabrak with a thick accent asked her.

Arcas eyes darted quickly as she saw that the female's friends were closing in,

"Uh yes! I was just about to come look for you! They told me you'd find me, but I thought I'd do a little recon."

The female seemed satisfied with that,

"Good. I am Sugi. Good thing you just got here! The last Hutt just got here as well. Follow my lead and don't get yourself killed."

Sugi led them away from the cliff and down a steep incline. There was a secret passage that led to the meeting room. Sugi pointed to the long rounded table and crouched under it. Arcas quickly copied her and stayed alert for any other order Sugi gave. Her heart leapt into her throat as she heard the footsteps of the Sith, his accomplice, and Pre-Vizsla stepped into the room. She felt the disappoint rolling off the Sith in huge waves.

The Sith tried to frighten the Hutts into giving them their resources. One of the Hutts spoke something in Huttese and Sugi sprang up with her gun pointed at the red Sith. Arcas copied her almost instantly and went into a martial arts stance, careful to hide her lightsaber. She looked at the two Zabraks in front of her and was astonished by how powerful each of them looked. Her eyes met with the red Sith's and she faltered a little in her stance, but regained her posture quickly. Sugi shot the first blast and the rest of her gang pushed the criminals out. Vizsla blasted fire out of his wrist, trying to burn them all. Arcas leapt above the fire and joined in the fight. She was jumped by a few Death Watch. They swung punches at her and she evaded them. She quietly used the Force to blast them away and knocked a few in the gut. She turned to face more as they came on, the fight seemed to last forever, but despite all the violence Arcas enjoyed the opportunity to get some energy out.

The bigger Zabrak punched a wall in an attempt to hit one of Sugi's crew. The vibration was so hard it loosened a piece of rock from the ceiling. It fell on top of Arcas. Arcas gasped as she felt the weight smash on her legs. She turned to use the Force to push it off, but was hit by a stun gun.

"Leave them. They are only bounty hunters." The Sith said. He walked over to where Arcas was pinned,

"What have we here?"

He looked at Arcas with curiosity. He was stroking his chin when a Death Watch warrior hurried up to him,

"All of the Hutts but one managed to escape."

The Sith stopped stroking his chin and looked at the warrior,

"Keep her here. Any way you can."

The warrior nodded and pulled a blaster out holding it to her head. Arcas heard the scream of the Hutt before being hit unconscious.

Arcas woke up later inside a ship. She was strapped to a chair by energy bonds. She shook her hair so it covered her face. Arcas looked around hoping to find an escape. Her head was pulled back and she was staring into the mask of a Death Watch warrior.

"So you've awakened. I'll let Pre Vizsla know." The Death Watch warrior left into the cabin of the ship. Arcas quickly looked around, desperate for an escape now that she was most definitely outside her skill level. She shifted her hip, looking for the feel of her lightsaber and squeaked when she felt it wasn't there. She started to panic. Her panic heightened when she heard voices,

"… Let me deal with her!"

"No! You are not affiliated with the Jedi. She is in Savage and I's expertise!"

Arcas watched the door, hoping she would wake up soon and this was a bad dream. To her dismay the door opened and revealed the two Zabrak Sith. The red one motioned for the door to shut and with a look of anger Pre Vizsla shut the door.

The two Sith paced back and forth. Arcas lowered her head, trying not to make eye contact with them. The bigger Zabrak stormed up to her and pulled her head up, staring at her with angry eyes,

"What should we do with her brother?"

The red one paced back and forth,

"She could be of use to us Savage… We just have to figure out how…"

Arcas stayed quiet, trying her hardest not to show her panic. The red zabrak pulled the one named Savage back,

"Your quiet demeanor does not deceive the panic in your eyes JEDI."

Arcas couldn't help it,

"You know the Council will come for me! They'll find me!"

"Yes… Yes they will because we will force them too… Savage I think I've figured how she'll be useful… Come let us go inform Vizsla…"

They left and Arcas was left alone in the holding area. The door opened and a Death Watch warrior came out to babysit her,

"Don't try anything." The warrior knocked her gun against Arcas head. She grunted a little,

"Like as though I could."

The ride back to Mandalore took a few hours. In that time Arcas had let herself drift between consciousness and unconsciousness, trying to make a Force connection with anyone back on Coruscant she could. But she was hit with a stone wall each time. She was hit awake,

"Wake up Jedi! We've arrived at Mandalore."

"Great. Thanks for telling me." Arcas muttered.

"Fiesty isn't she?" the red Sith appeared.

"Lord Maul. I was just informing her that we've arrived within range of Mandalore and should be landing sometime soon." The warrior said quickly.

"Leave her "escortment" to Savage and I. We will be able to deal with any fight she puts up." Maul commanded. The warrior piped a bit,

"We will be able to deal with her just fine as well. She would not be the first Jedi we've dealt with."

"Of course… That Jedi, Kenobi. Except where is he now?" Maul snided.

The warrior quit her conquest on escorting Arcas to where ever they wanted to take her. Arcas had to laugh a bit at how easily Maul disarmed her. Arcas shut her mouth… She was admiring the monster… 'God what has happened to me? Am I already so despaired that I believe I'm not going to be rescued…' she thought to herself.

The ship landed and Arcas lifted her head up looking around. Maul deactivated the energy bond around her waist and pulled her up. Arcas bowed her head, letting her hair cover her face. Savage pulled her face back,

"Stop covering your fear Jedi. Aren't the Jedi fearless?" Maul sneered at her face. Arcas straightened her shoulders and shook her hair back to reveal her full appearance. Her vestigal horns protruded proudly and her hair wrapped around her face, and her pale blue eyes shone.

"Ah now that's more like it. There's a face of a Jedi worthy of fighting me." Maul laughed. He motioned for Savage and her to follow him. Savage pinned a hand around her arm and pushed her forward. Arcas kept up her bravery and tried to observe which ways she was going in case she did end up escaping from here. They came to a building of glass and glow. 'This can't be the jail… It's too pretty…' Arcas thought to herself.

Nevertheless she was thrown into a jail cell. She got up quickly from her knees and stared out from the glass wall.

"You can't just leave me here! What's going to happen to me?!" she shouted out, "This planet will be stormed! The Jedi will come looking for me!"

Maul laughed haughtily,

"Yes.. your friends will come for you…"

Arcas was left alone. No cell mates to converse with.

"Might as well make this the best I can…" She sat on the floor and relaxed herself, looking to reach her mind of peace and serenity. Arcas felt herself become one with the Force, but she still felt no connection with anyone back at the Temple. She slammed her hand on the floor, pulling herself out of her meditation.

"Why isn't this working?!" she shouted. 'Maybe the Dark Woman didn't teach it to me right… makes sense seeing as she's a reclusive Jedi…" Arcas thought to herself. Arcas closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep, dreaming of colors…

The days dragged by slowly for Arcas. The only contact she had was when food was brought to her to keep her alive. She had debated starving herself so that she could get out of this hell, but she convinced herself to stay alive for the sake of reporting back to the Jedi. Finally after 3 or 4 days of being held captive, the red Zabrak, Maul came for her. She lifted her head from her lap and looked up to see him standing outside the cell. Arcas raised her hand, trying to use the Force to break the glass between them so she could strangle him and get a chance of escape. Maul laughed,

"Your fear prevents you from using your power."

"I have no fear!" Arcas lied.

"Like I'd believe that. Now come. I've got a transmission with the Jedi with your name on it." Maul instructed. Arcas waited for him to open the door. When he did he grabbed her by the throat,

"Don't you dare try to escape. I have this place surrounded with Death Watch warriors."

Arcas could only gasp for air. Maul took that as a yes and let her go. He followed behind her and led her to the communications room. He handed her off to Savage who paced back and forth watching her carefully.

Arcas watched Maul tap a few keys and then a figure showed in the screen. Arcas squeaked when she saw it was Master Windu and Master Yoda. She bowed her head hiding her face a bit so the masters wouldn't see her.

"Ah Jedi Masters. I believe I have someone of yours…" Maul taunted them. Windu crossed his arms,

"Who would that be?"

"You'll have to send a Master to come get her yourself…" Maul continued taunting.

Yoda stepped forward into the conversation,

"Jedi Knight, Arcas Kellarov is it?"

Maul laughed,

"How should I know? I never got her name." he leapt over to where Arcas was being watched and pulled her forward. He pulled her hair back violently,

"You have 3 days to send Kenobi for her before I kill her myself and send her mutilated remains to you as a reminder to Kenobi that I have not forgotten."

With that Maul cut the transmission to the Jedi Temple,

"Well I think we've established a point to the Jedi."

Savage only growled in agreement. Arcas was scared to the ends of her hair. She had 3 days to escape out of a prison that seemed to have no escape.

Maul felt her fear rolling off her,

"So you do have fear… Do not worry little one, I'm sure your precious Jedi will send a squadron for you with Kenobi in lead."

"You have an obsession with Master Kenobi as a girl does for a boy." Arcas retorted, "It makes you seem crazier than you already are."

Maul could only laugh,

"When you have been waiting for revenge…"

He pushed her back towards her jail cell and threw her inside it. He locked the door and turned to leave. Arcas let herself drop to the ground and she splayed her body out. She prayed through the Force that the Council would send someone, anyone to come rescue her. 'They aren't just going to leave me…' she kept telling herself over and over. She didn't know how to live without the Jedi.  
>"I could always a hitch a ride back to Iridonia." She said to herself, then she remembered how her family had done nothing to protect her from her kidnapping. She closed her eyes and tried to telepathically speak to any Jedi she could make contact with. She was still being hit with a mental wall of stone.<p>

"God damn it!" she shouted and slammed her fists onto the ground. The walls shattered onto the ground from the energy of force she emitted. Arcas quickly got up from the floor and grabbed the biggest shard she could, in case she needed it in her possible escape now.

She ran out of her cell and tried to remember her way out. She sensed footsteps from the guards coming to see what the noise was. Arcas looked around, looking for a way to avoid them,

"Damn! No doors!"

She looked up and saw an air vent. She pulled it down using the Force and jumped up inside it. She pulled the hatch up just in time to escape from the guards. She crept forward and away just in time to hear a guard report the broken cell. Arcas focused her senses on finding a way out. She used her mind to find an energy path to civilization, 'Where are you society?' she thought to herself. Arcas felt something and followed it. She crawled around the air shafts being careful not to make too much noise. She found she had arrived above the hangar. She stopped and looked through the slits at the hangar area. 'I'll wait until night when all the pilots are gone' she thought to herself. Arcas watched carefully as people left and arrived. The Mandalore Royal Hangar was quite busy seeing as usually it appeared to be quiet and reclusive.

Her heart dropped when she saw Maul appear in the hangar with Vizsla with him. She crossed her fingers he would leave before she made her escape. She saw Maul look around and watching every ship that came and left. He seemed to be talking to Vizsla at the same time. Arcas tried to listen in on the conversation, but she was too busy. She continued to observe, keeping a careful eye on Maul's movements.

When time for her escape came, Maul was still present in the hangar recording every passenger and pilot that came and left Mandalore's palace. Arcas stammered for a few seconds wondering what to do. She couldn't face him. She didn't have the power she needed without her lightsaber to even stand a chance against him. While she was still thinking her hiding spot was ripped apart.

"I thought I sensed your presence. It took me a while to find it's exact location." Maul sneered, walking towards her using the Force to pull her out of the air shaft. Arcas gasped for air, her vision flickering between light and darkness.

"I'll escape… here… somehow…" she gasped out. She pulled the shard out and slammed it into her midsection. She felt the pain scream into her brain, her hearts beating rapidly at the panic spreading through her. She relaxed as she felt her blood pump out and the world go black… she didn't even feel her body hit the ground as Maul dropped her.

Maul ran towards her body. He had never in his all his missions see a Jedi attempt to take their life like she had. She was surprising him every time they met. He pulled his comlink up,

"Medic to the Hangar. Hostage is injured." He reported. While he waited he pulled the shard out and put a hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. He pushed down, applying pressure. He used his other hand to check if she still had a pulse. He felt it beating weakly in her wrist.

"Don't you die on me yet!" he exclaimed.

He kept checking for a pulse until the medical droid came. The droid gave her a sedative and used it's many hands to apply pressure to her wound, put a breathing mask on her face to keep her breathing and lifted her up. The droid wheeled out to the infirmary section of the palace. Maul got up from his knees and stared at his hand. He saw her blood drip off his fingertips and something within him flipped…


	3. Chapter 3

Arcas woke up to a beep. She fluttered her eyes opened. 'Oh dear galaxy…' she had survived… The beeping got more and more rapid as her pulse went up due to the adrenaline of anger she was feeling. A hand pushed down on her arm and she felt a needle pierce her skin. Almost immediately she became dozy,

"What… Who…?" she mumbled. She looked over to where the hand belonged and was astonished to see it was Maul's.

"I'm assuming you really don't like being a prisoner?" he asked. He was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.

'God he looks amazing...' she thought. She shook her head slightly and remained silent to his question.

"Fine. Well either way you've got 2 more days to wait for the Jedi's answers, but now that I know what your willing to do to escape I've given the order to keep you here sedated and weak." Maul told her. With that he gave her another sedative and watched as she fought the anesthetic but ultimately passed out.

Maul turned and walked out of the room. Savage was waiting for him, as backup in case the girl had tried to escape again.

"Does she need any more restraints brother?" Savage asked.

"No she should be fine until we have the Jedi's answer. She is an odd one though. Never in history has a Jedi tried to take their own life to remain free." Maul mused. Savage shrugged his shoulders,

"At least she did not escape and ruin our chances of ridding the Jedi one of their most valuable members."

"True Savage, true. But if we do end up with her, she is something. It would be a shame to have to kill her instead of using her for a spy or some sorts. She has much anger and she leaves a trail of it everywhere she goes." Maul said quietly. He lifted his head from his hand and walked away from the infirmary.

He was curious as to what the Jedi would say about this Jedi Knight. She was obviously not a valued member of their's as Savage thought. 'Just another pawn, what a shame' he thought to himself. He headed for the council room of the Palace, he wanted to speak to Pre-Vizsla.

"Savage go do a boundary check. Vizsla likes to keep spectators away from here. Also there has been rumors of Jabba sending bounty here to invade us. If you find any… have fun." He waved and sent Savage away. Savage practically ran, he was itching to release his energy. Maul kept walking to the council room. He heard Vizsla talking to the Black Sun organization about sending more members for backup. Maul leaned against the doorway, patiently waiting for his meeting to end.

Eventually it did and Maul got his chance after the room cleared out.

"Vizla. I'd like to talk to you about the arrangements of our prisoner from the base." Maul stated.

"The Zabrak girl?" Vizsla asked.

"Yes. She escaped yesterday as you know and I sensed her in the hangar and waited for her to let her guard down so I could capture her. Anyway she impaled herself with a piece of glass from her cell and she's been in the infirmary since. My point is we should keep her on sedatives until we have an answer from the Jedi. She is powerful when she is aggravated and keeping her in a prison cell enhances that. But more importantly it that it is obvious she is not that much of importance to the Jedi so if they do indeed turn our "offer" down we need to discuss options of keeping her alive for something. She's too powerful to let be killed." Maul explained. Vizsla looked up from the Holoforms he had been staring at,

"Let us wait until we have answer from the Jedi. For now I'll take your advice and keep her under."

Maul seemed satisfied with that answer. He tried to put her out of his mind and work on the next few steps of his grand plan to have power. Perhaps she could help him with it… She could be his informative spy. He could send her to places his face wouldn't allow him too… He just had to make sure she was able to turn to the dark and away from the light…

Maul went back to the infirmary to assess her mind. Now that she was under the influence of drugs her mind was weaker and easier to search through. He waved his hand over the door and saw her sleeping form. Her chest heaved up and down calmly. Her eyes did not stir from his presence. 'Good she's still under' he thought to himself. He picked up her hand to strengthen his connection into her mind and he searched through for her willpower. He saw so many memories. He saw when she had first heard of who he was and how she had quivered with excitement at ever getting a chance to defeat him in battle.

"You'll never beat me in a duel little one." He whispered, looking at her sleeping form. He closed his eyes again and concentrated. He found the remembrance of when she first wielded a lightsaber. He found how she had covered her enjoyment of killing an assassin. He went even as far back to when she was a child and how she had been abducted by slavers, her pain as her parents just let her go.

"You have a dark past and yet here you are wielding the light. You must have a strong resilience." He murmured.

Maul found her willpower and tested it. He was surprised how hard she pushed against his attempts to insert even a small sliver of darkness within her. Her hand twitched, Maul quickly looked down and let go.

"Stop… messing with my mind…" she murmured before losing consciousness again. Maul had to laugh, she was surprising him all the time with how she reacted to his actions.

Maul left her and walked to the communications room, he checked in with Savage,

"Anything to report my brother?"

"Not much going on outside here brother. I did have to… end a couple of the Royal Guards. They thought they were being careful sneaking warning beacons off to whoever got them. I ended the guards and switched the beacon back to all clear." Savage cackled through.

"For once I have taught you something useful. Good job Savage. Come back once you feel you are finished." Maul said. He signed off the comlink and checked back through the transmission to the Jedi. They had sent no reply yet. Maul exhaled deeply. He was extremely aggravated about what would happen if the Jedi did not send Kenobi. He would have lost yet another opportunity to have his revenge. But yet he somehow did not want to give up the girl. Maul retreated to his quarters and spun his saber in a circle to entertain himself.

After about 30 minutes alone, Savage appeared.

"Have anymore fun?" Maul asked.

"No." Savage responded, curtly. Maul shrugged his shoulders, his brother had good and bad days.

"If the Jedi respond to the threat and do indeed send Kenobi, leave him to me and you take out anyone he brings with him. Let it be like it was on Florrum, except this time neither of us lose a limb." Maul explained.

"It's nice to see you care brother." Savage replied sarcastically.

"I'm just trying to keep you alive." Maul said shortly. Maul ordered Savage to his own living quarters so he could get some rest before the evening dinner. Maul walked into his refresher and washed his face to wake himself up a bit. He took his robe off to be more comfortable and meditated a bit before hearing the slight clang of silverware hitting the dining hall tables. He pushed off the floor and robed himself off. Maul quietly made his way to the dining hall. Food had never been a huge concern of his, but Savage never missed a meal. Maul walked in and saw all the warriors eating like the pigs they were, he quickly helped himself to two small fish and plopped a large amount of soup into a bowl. He couldn't stand to eat with these filths anymore so had been taking his meals to his room, but tonight he went to the infirmary. Arcas as they had called her was still asleep on the bed. He left the soup next her bed and turned to the medical droid,

"Next she awakens inform her there is food here for her."

"Affirmative sir." The droid croaked out. Maul left and ate his meal in silence away from the disgusting warriors and away from her…


	4. Chapter 4

The next afternoon Maul was discussing his next move for his grand plan with Pre Vizsla. 'Except the bloody fool doesn't have the slightest idea that I'm going overpower him' Maul thought to himself.

"We need to keep the citizens believing that the Duchess is indeed a traitor. But we could also help you take control of Mandalore." Maul told him. Vizsla rubbed his chin,

"And how could you do that?"

"We could play a deploy. You could show to the citizens that you have taken Savage and I as prisoners and claim us responsible for all the attacks and frauds against Mandalore. This would win you their respect and loyalty." Maul explained.

"Sounds like an excellent plan. When shall we execute it?" Vizsla asked.

"After we have a response back from the Jedi on our prisoner's fate." Maul said. Vizsla nodded and left to explain the plan to his warriors.

Savage came into the council room.

"Brother are you really going to allow us to pretend to be taken prisoner?" he asked, "What if he throws us into the jail?"

Maul smiled,

"I'm counting on it. Once we're down there we can find a diplomat who is a traitor to Mandalore and use him as our puppet to control Mandalore." Savage could only examine his saber hilt in embarrassment. Maul rolled his eyes affectionately,

"You still have much to learn brother."

Maul walked along with Savage following him,

"We need to figure a plan to convince our soon-to-be puppet to be a false ruler of Mandalore under our thumb."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Savage responded, his hand hovering over his lightsaber hilt. Maul rolled his eyes,

"Savage go down to the detention center and look around. Make a list of potential candidates for us. I will make the final decision on who we choose."

Savage growled and left.

Maul left down to go to the communications room to check for a response from the Jedi. He had a private transmission from an unknown link. 'Curious…' he thought. He opened it up and the face he saw was masked and covered. The voice he heard was female.

"I wouldn't count on the Jedi coming to rescue that Knight. I have heard them talking and they have been arguing over her use to the Jedi. She has too much darkness in her to be kept as a Knight…"

And just like that the transmission was over. Maul was not sure of the legitimacy of the message as the identity of the person and origin was not disclosed. He squared his shoulders, 'They still have a day to debate and decide' he thought to himself. Maul spun around as he heard a voice. He turned and saw it was a Death Watch warrior,

"Pre Vizsla requests to see you."

"As usual." Maul growled. He followed the warrior into the throne room.

Vizsla turned from discussing something,

"Ah Maul. Just who I wanted to see."

Maul cut him off,

"You requested me. It is not as if you were hoping to see me. What is it you want?"

Vizsla's face turned to a stormed look,

"My men found your animal brother searching the detention center. We are not sure why but it is a curious and odd activity to be doing."

"He was probably looking to see if he could find any prisoners awaiting execution and he would serve it himself. Mandalore is a bit of a bore place for him to be. No animals to hunt down and kill and no way for him to relieve his boredom." Maul covered, 'Damn it Savage. Can't you be discreet?' he thought.

Vizsla seemed a little hesistant with Maul's answer,

"Why does he not train with my men?"

"Savage could best your men in a few seconds flat. He took a Jedi down within seconds just with hand to hand combat. Not to mention he is trained to kill and that is exactly what he will do. No his training is best left to my attention." Maul said. Vizsla had no choice but to accept Maul's answer.

Maul bowed and left the room. He searched throughout the palace for Savage. Finally he gave up and retreated to his quarters. There he found his brother waiting for him.

"Damn you Savage. You almost blew the whole plan to pieces." Maul scolded him.

Savage rolled his eyes,

"I found a few people who would be willing to trade power just for their freedom."

Maul was delighted to hear this,

"Excellent!"

"So what exactly did I do wrong this time?"

Maul became irritated at him again,

"Vizsla's men found you and were curious as to why you were searching the detention center."

"Ah I did run into them. I didn't say anything." Savage said simply.

Maul growled,

"I told them you were bored here on Mandalore and was looking to execute any prisoners who were awaiting execution."

Savage stood up,

"As fun as that sounds how dare you make me sound like an animal."

Maul stood up straight. He could feel his temper about to blow. He turned and left. He wasn't even thinking. He was just walking to let his anger out. When he finally came to his senses Maul found himself standing outside the Jedi's room.

"Bloody hell…" he growled to himself. He stood outside and leaned against the glass, staring at her chest rise and fall. He watched as her eyes fluttered a bit and her hands twitched. He walked into the room and disconnected her from the IV full of the sedative drugs.

He watched as she slowly woke, the machine beeped quickly as her heartbeat as she became more conscious. The girl slowly opened her eyes. Maul was shocked by them. He had forgotten that despite them being pale, they were quite blue. She jerked up suddenly,

"Where am I?!"

Maul outstretched a hand,

"Careful now. You are in the same place you were 3 days ago."

Arcas shook her head, Maul watched her hair shake,

"3 days… 3 days… Oh no…"

Maul smiled in glee as he watched and felt her panic rise,

"They're not coming to rescue me… Are they?!" Arcas cried. She pulled her hands to he face and wept into them. Maul felt a bit awkward and a bit amused. He had seen women cry because someone (or himself) had killed a loved one, but that was the only time he had ever seen them cry. It was odd for him now to watch her cry, he wasn't sure what to do.

He left to let her adjust to the Jedi betraying her. He practically skipped in joy at his new accomplice. He would turn her to the dark side and use her as his spy. Maul went to look for Savage to tell him about their newest addition to the grand plan. He found Savage levitating his lightsaber in the dining hall.

"Savage! The girl. She is ours for the taking." Maul explained excitedly. Savage's concentration broke and the hilt fell with a clang,

"What?"

"That Jedi we captured. The Temple is not going to send a squadron for her it appears. They have not responded to my transmission. I did get a private link the other day from the Temple, but the person was masked and the origin was unknown. For now we should keep an eye out for a raid against the palace for her release. Otherwise she is to be our newest addition to the plan of taking over Mandalore." Maul told him. Savage smiled at the idea, finally someone else for Maul to take his anger out on,

"Sounds brilliant brother."

Maul left to find Pre Vizsla. He wasn't far,

"Vizsla."

Vizsla turned to Maul,

"Yes what is it?"

"It seems our prisoner is not going to be rescued by her beloved Jedi. So your plan to take over Mandalore can take action at your leisure." Maul said simply.

Vizsla nodded,

"Tomorrow then."

Maul bowed and left. He knew Vizsla was going to betray him and try to keep Savage and him in the detention cell. 'It'll take a lot more than a jail cell to keep us contained' Maul thought with an inward smile. He strolled throughout the palace taking in what he had to do tomorrow and preparing himself for the candidates Savage had found. He went to his quarters and prepared himself for the events of the next few days…


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Maul was training Savage in the Palace's gardens when the DeathWatch warriors came to round them up for the big show.

"How rude of Vizsla to interrupt my teachings." Maul growled.

"Ya well get moving. His lord is getting impatient to get this rolling. He's pissed off you already made him wait 3 days than needed." One of the warriors retorted. Maul stopped in his tracks,

"Your "lord" wouldn't be where he is without my help. So he can shut his mouth about waiting when I have so generously given my advice."

No one talked for the rest of the trip to the public balcony. Vizsla had already gathered the public and was explaining how the Duchess had hired people to throw attacks on Mandalore and blame it on DeathWatch.

"The culprits have been caught though! But only due to DeathWatch's devotion to keeping Mandalore safe and strong!" Vizsla shouted. He made a gesture for Maul and Savage to be brought out.

Maul felt the energy bonds click around his wrists. He saw Savage fidget a little at the odd feeling. Maul went limp and allowed himself to be pushed out onto the balcony like an animal. He was pushed over the railing with his head hanging. He looked out at the people and saw the look of fear cascade across at his demonic appearance. He roared loudly to give effect. Savage only growled. Vizsla pulled both their sabers from their belts,

"Jedi! Just as we suspected! But now! Now that the Duchess has been put away and her henchmen captured Mandalore can return to it's great warrior roots and flourish!"

Maul was roughly pulled from the balcony and he heard the clapping of the stupid citizens. 'Soon this will all be mine…' he thought. He followed the guards to the detention center and noticed that they had not taken the energy bonds off or returned their sabers. 'Just as I thought.'

The brothers were thrown into a jail cell that was in the farthest corner possible from the palace. Maul grunted a little from the impact onto the floor. One of the guards laughed,

"Did you really expect loyalty from Vizsla?"

Maul's eyes burned brightly but he did not say a word. The guards left laughing, feeling victorious. Savage turned to his brother,

"What do we do now?"

"Now we wait a few hours to give Vizsla the impression he's won. Then we make our escape, find our puppet and begin with taking Mandalore out from Vizsla." Maul answered.

"So where does the Jedi come into play with that?" Savage asked.

"She will accompany us in the downfall of Vizsla. I will send her in to scout what we are up against and then I will battle Vizsla myself and win. Once I do I will begin her training more thoroughly. You are mostly finished with yours. If you keep at the pace you are you will soon be complete." Maul explained. Maul sat onto the floor in a meditative position. He closed his eyes and focused on clearing his mind.

Arcas had been weeping all night, but deep down she had known they wouldn't send a platoon in for her.

"Damn you judging Jedi." She whispered. She ripped the IV from her arm. She pulled her feet off the medical bed. Arcas attempted to stand and felt a small pain in her stomach. 'Guess that hasn't exactly healed completely yet.' She didn't care. Arcas looked in the mirrior and threw her hair up into messy bun. 'I'm getting out of here. I'll start a new life somewhere far from all this bullshit' she thought. She just had to figure out where her lightsaber was and then find a ship to steal. Arcas walked out of the medical room. She was surprised to find it so far away from the rest of the palace. She shrugged her shoulders and continued crepting around looking for the red skinned Zabrak. She looked around a corner and swung back when she saw two DeathWatch warriors standing. She breathed out slowly… she thought about taking them out, she knew she could do it. 'But they might have a constant signal on them to alert their leader of their positions at all times… just like dogs' she thought. She decided to use her womanly charm to get her answers. She strode out from behind the wall.

"You!" the warriors pulled their weapons out.

"Don't bother boys. I'm defenseless." She said.

They looked at each other and put their guns down, but kept a hand on the handle.

"Aren't there orders to keep you sedated?" one of them asked.

"I didn't know there was!" Arcas laughed, "But the red skinned Zabrak lightened up the dosage! What a jerk I was having fabulous dreams too."

"Oh. Well you don't have to worry about him interrupting your dreams anymore. We just threw him in jail." The guard responded.

Arcas stepped up close to him,

"Would you like to interrupt my dreams instead?" she purred.

Underneath the hood Arcas couldn't tell what his expression, but from his body language she could tell she had his attention.

"Uhh…" Arcas flipped her hair and ran a hand across his helmet,

"Get back to me on that later handsome." She turned to the other guard,

"Now you…" she purred, "I'll reward you if you do a teeny little favor for me."

She heard him gulp, "What's that?"

"Well you see," she dipped her head, "I've been abandoned by the Jedi…" She closed her eyes and opened them again, her pale blue eyes on fire,  
>"And I'm feeling vengeful. So would you both be so kind as to escort a hurting girl to you leader so I can spill all of the Jedi's little secrets to him?"<p>

And just like that the two guards led her straight to Vizsla's throne room.

In the throne room Vizsla was surprised to see her, especially since he had forgotten she existed.

"Why aren't you in the infirmary where that wretched Maul confined you?" he boomed.

Arcas looked up mournfully,

"He is wretched isn't he?"

She turned her look to something devilish,

"But I've got a proposition for you."

"What could you offer me that I would possibly be interested in?" he said, sounding bored.

"Don't you remember I'm from the Jedi Temple? I was a Jedi." She said, sounding hurt.

"And what are you now?" Vizsla asked.

"Just a girl out for revenge. But… I can do that AND help you at the same time." Arcas said, looking at her nails while doing so.

Vizsla leaned forward.

"See.. I know the Temple's structure inside and out. I can tell you the weakest spots to hit it. Blowing the Temple up would be a big hit to the Jedi. I can also tell you where the Jedi library is so you could steal information. Interested now? I could even lure Kenobi here. I may have been abandoned, but Kenobi is a man who honors friendship." Arcas finished. She could see the potential in Vizsla's eyes.

"Fine. I'll grant you asylum here as long as you keep up your end of the deal." Vizsla said.

Arcas smiled,

"Thank you. One more favor."

Vizsla rolled his eyes,

"What?"

"Take me to Maul so I can assess a few things from him." Arcas asked.

Vizsla snapped his fingers and a guard came forward.

"Take her to the detention center." Arcas followed the guard and shot Vizsla a flirty look. 'Damn this is too easy. These guys will eat up any bullshit to get closer to the enemy' she thought.

The guard walked to the farthest end of the palace and to the farthest cell,

"Wow Vizsla really did not like these guys huh?" She laughed.

"Not at all." The guard chuckled back, "Well here they are."

Arcas turned to him and held his hand softly,

"Thank you. I can find my way back." She looked into the helmet where she thought his eyes would be. The guard stumbled back a bit and left. Arcas turned back to the cell.

Savage was leaning against the back wall with his arms folded and Maul was sitting on the floor, meditating.  
>"Nice act. Is any of it real?" He asked curious.<p>

"What can I say? I guess they just fall for these pretty eyes. Of course none of it is real! Get your head out of your ass. I'm here for something else." Arcas snapped.

Maul stood up,

"And what would that be?"

"My lightsaber. I know you know where it is. I want it back." Arcas growled.

Maul laughed,

"Oh you have much to learn. Why would you want it back? You have no where to go!"

Arcas contemplated this,

"You're right, I don't but if I'm going to survive in this galaxy I need a weapon and what better than one custom for me?"

Maul growled,

"If you pledge yourself to me I'll give you a purpose in life and a place to stay."

Arcas thought on this,

"What's in it for me?"

"Power and growth. I'll teach you powers you never knew you had. I'll show you things the Jedi could never show you." Maul purred. Arcas was tempted.

"Sure. I'll pledge my allegiance to you. Once you teach me though, I want to show myself off to the Jedi. Show them what I've become because of their missed opportunities." Arcas growled. Maul smiled,

"Perfect. You're first test is breaking Savage and I out of here."

Arcas ducked her face and smiled. She brought her hands up and focused her mind on the cracking sound of the glass. She focused on the glass walls shattering to the ground. She squeezed her hands together and heard the glass crack. Arcas opened her eyes and swung her leg around to the glass and watched as it shattered from the force of her boot.

"You're welcome." She smiled. Maul returned the smile. Savage just rolled his eyes. Maul stepped out.

"Follow me. I'll show you to your lightsaber. What's your position with Vizsla?" Maul asked.

Arcas laughed harshly,

"He believes I know Jedi secrets and that I'll help him plan a bombing attack on the Jedi."

"Who's idea was the bombing?" Maul asked curious, from what he had seen Vizsla did not seem like the type to leave Mandalore's star system.

Arcas looked forward,

"Mine."

"Feeling vengeful are we?" Maul asked.

"Isn't that hardwired in us Zabraks?" Arcas asked. Maul laughed slightly, he had forgotten she was of the same species like him and Savage.

They crept around the palace until they came upon Maul's quarters. Thankfully the doors hadn't been locked yet. Maul ushered them inside quickly. Maul walked over the desk and pulled a drawer open.

"Here my dear is your lightsaber. Now Savage and I are going to stay hidden back down in the detention center to choose to a former political figure to be our puppet. Here's a comlink," he threw her a wrist comlink, "Our private channel is Z27. Keep it on that channel. I want you to stay within sight of Vizsla and scout out how many guards we have to go through once we have chosen. I will personally end Vizsla and take over Mandalore. Understand?" Maul explained.

Arcas flashed a smile,

"Understood." She flipped her hair and walked out of the apartment. She headed back to the throne room.

Savage looked over at his brother,

"What are you thinking brother?"

"I am thinking we have got ourselves a very capable spy. She's played the guards and Vizsla into her hands quite easily." Maul said rubbing his chin. He was excited for what was to come with their new spy.

Maul and Savage streaked back down to the detention center as quickly as they had come back to the palace. Maul let Savage lead and show him all the prisoners he thought fit. Maul listened to all of them and felt their senses, detecting if they were dark enough. One man had caught his attention. The man was tall, with strong features. But his eyes were deceptive. They looked gentle and trusting, but Maul saw straight past that.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Almec." The man asked.

"What brought you down here?" Maul pushed.

"I ran the black market here on Mandalore and was Duchess Satine's advisor. Too bad her nephew caught me." Almec said.

"I understand you're willing to be my little puppet just to have your freedom." Maul said with a cocked smile.

"I am."

"I like you." Maul said. He pressed his hand to the glass and it shattered instantly.

"Welcome. Serve me well and I will bring you great power and all the freedom you could want." Maul said. Almec smiled, his eyes squinting. Maul tapped his wristlink,

"Jedi."

Arcas heard her comlink beep faintly. She looked around to make sure no one heard. No one had. She turned to Vizsla.

"Where's your ladies room?" she asked.

Vizsla pointed in a random direction. She huffed,

"Thanks for the help."

She left quickly.

"Thank god you're done. I've endured countless guards hitting on me and Vizsla's endless questions. If you want this to be easy do it now. Not many guards are around. ARCAS out." She said hotly.

Maul's blood heated at how she talked to him. 'No worries' he thought. He turned to his brother,

"Good selection. I knew I could count on you for this. Follow me." He beginning quickly making his way back up to the palace. He did not even try to be stealthy. He just let Savage take every guard they came across. Soon they reached the throne room. Savage blasted the door open and walked in choking one of the guards. Vizsla stood up. Savage let the guard go with a thud. Maul walked forward,

"I challenge you. One warrior to another!" he beated his chest as he said this. Vizsla looked around,

"Let him have his weapon!"

His female lieutenant threw Maul his lightsaber. Maul grabbed it and growled loving the sound of his saber ignite. He flashed an eye at Arcas who was pretending to be stunned at Maul and Savage's appearance.

The battle took only a matter of minutes but it soon became clear that Maul was going to be the victor. Arcas watched in amazement at his ability to detect movements seconds before they would happen. She cleared her throat and looked at Savage, he had a smile played across his face. Arcas settled back and watched as Maul defeated Vizsla. 'Good riddance' she thought, she'd had enough of his cocky attitude. Maul raced Vizsla's dark saber and ran it through his head.

"I claim this sword as ruler of Mandalore!" Maul shouted as he sliced Vizsla's head off. A few of his warriors looked at Vizsla's rolling head and then at Maul. A few of them stepped forward and kneeled down showing their allegiance to Maul. The lieutenant stepped forward,

"No outsider will rule Mandalore!" she exclaimed. She and a few others pulled their helmets on. Maul looked on,

"If you will not join me you shall die. Kill them!"

His new guards pulled their blasters out and started shooting them. He let them play chase with their former comrades and looked to Arcas and Savage. He smiled and turned to Almec,

"Go make yourself comfortable."

He turned back to his Zabrak circle,

"Arcas tomorrow you begin your training under me. Tonight Savage will give you a lesson and then we will feast on our new glory!"

Arcas bowed and left. She motioned for Savage to follow her. Savage growled.

As they walked she tried to assess Savage. She hadn't spent a lot of time with him, but she was glad for the chance.

"So… what's the deal between you and Maul?" she asked.

"We are brothers." He said simply.

"Who's older?" Arcas pushed.

"I am. But I did not know of his existence until a year or so ago." Savage growled.

"How's that even possible?!" Arcas wondered.

Savage said nothing.

"So how did you two reunite?" Arcas pressed.

Savage swung his arm around and attempted to test Arcas speed. She barely missed due to her relaxed state.

"If I've learned one thing, always be on your guard for an attack!" Savage said, "I found Maul through searching for him. I had the help of a witch who had known of his existence for years."

Arcas grabbed her saber, ready for Savage's next attack.

"I had heard as a child he was killed. That was over a decade ago. How did he survive?" she said.

"Through the power of the darkside you can surpass death even!" Savage said. He lunged at Arcas with incredible speed despite his size. She wasn't fast enough to dodge his attack. He pummeled her to the ground. Arcas was winded for a moment, Savage took advantage of her state. He grabbed her arm and flung her against a wall. He came running at her full speed again. Arcas pushed aside the pain and jumped up. She moved side to side as he swung his enormous fists, smashing the stone where her head had been moments ago. She jumped straight up in the air using the Force. As she came down she pushed off Savage's shoulders with her foot and ran. She called her saber to her hand and ignited it. She turned to face Savage. He straightened up from his hunched pose and grabbed his lightsaber. He lit both ends of it and waited for her attack. Luckily Arcas was patient and waited for him to start the attack so she could assess his path of direction.

She only had to wait moments because soon he lunged at her again and swung his saber at her feet. She jumped over the saber like jumping in a game of jump-rope. She laughed and swung around, her hair barely missing his blade. She brought her saber around, heading for his midsection. Savage brought his hands up and hit his hilt on her chin. Arcas stumbled back and Savage took the chance to grab her in a Force choke hold. Arcas dropped her saber and it fell to the ground with a clang. She held her throat as she struggled to breathe. Savage held her there enjoying her struggled. As he felt her Force start to fade he dropped her. He turned and left without a single word. He had to report his observations back to Maul.

"No need to leave a lady beaten to the ground brother." Maul called up from a balcony. Savage looked up. Maul leapt off, did a spinning jump and landed to the ground. Savage grunted, acknowledging his presence.

"She has skill." He said.

Maul rubbed his chin,

"She has POTENTIAL. She does indeed have skill, moreso than I expected. But she needs trimming up. My dear," he turned to Arcas who was just getting back to her feet, "you require a good workout to fully understand what Savage and I are capable of. You underestimated him, but you see that is his greatest strength. People underestimate him because of his tactical plans, but he waits until they get overconfident and then sloppy. Once they get sloppy he sees loopholes and grabs them. You got overconfident much too quickly. The Jedi may have taught you your skills were good enough, but they are good enough for battle combat. Not good enough to take down a Sith."

Arcas remained silent.

Maul remained calm,

"You will learn. Tomorrow we will begin your training. Now let's get you set up in the palace."

Maul turned and Arcas followed him. Savage stayed where he was, contemplating what Maul had said about him.

Arcas stayed silent, thinking until Maul grabbed her face,

"Did you not hear what I said?"

"No."

"I said what would you like your room to have?" Maul growled.

Arcas looked at her hands,

"A balcony."

"Is that it?" Maul asked, somewhat confused.

"Yes."

He turned and asked a droid where the rooms with balconies were.

"Those would be the Q wing sir." The droid beeped out. They turned and headed in that direction.

Maul opened a door and gestured for her walk into the room. She walked in and looked around, gasping. It was gorgeous. To the left of the room was a bed draped in satin violet and royal red sheets. With fluffy black pillows to match. To her left was a armoire empty for her to put her belongings in. She walked farther in to the refresher and found the counters to be shiny black with a silver shower and clear door. She had fallen inlove with it. She walked back out of the refresher and to the right of the bed was the balcony. She opened the doors and felt the sunshine stream in. She sat down in it's light and soaked in the rays. She heard a noise and saw Maul leaning against the doorframe watching her. His face was expressionless.

"I had forgotten you were there…" she said shyly.

"Clearly." He walked in and stood behind her.

"Why the love for the sun?" he asked.

She sighed,

"Back when I was a child, before the Temple. When I was still on Iridonia, although it was warm from the winds and volcanoes, we had occasional sunny days and I use to just bask in it's natural nurturing warmth. Once I got to the Temple, although we had sun… it was never direct and I never had a chance to bask in it due to the Temple being so closed off."

Maul stopped looking down at her and up at the sun,

"Hmm… I didn't have things like that. The happiest thing I had was a hawk I nurtured back to health as child. My master saw my fondness to it as a weakness and killed it in front of me, teaching me that attachment is a weakness. But you don't see me now holding out to find another one."

Arcas felt her temper rising. She stood up,

"And there's the difference between us. I know what it's like to be a real person and have emotions. I'm not just a robotic organism programmed to kill."

She was standing dangerously close to Maul. She stared him straight in the eyes, piercing his gaze. Maul was awed by the woman's defiance to him, but he liked it. It was something different and amused him.

"You know I could kill you this instance and no one would mourn your death…" he taunted, trying to get a reaction from her. She still stared at him,

"Do it. I'm dead inside already."

He laughed.

"I like you. You've got a fire in you to prove everyone wrong."

He turned to leave,

"See you in the dining hall."

Arcas paced back and forth in her room. She was just stormed with emotion.

"What an inconsiderate asshole of a being. Taking one thing I hold as a child and turning it into a pitiful thing that means I'm weak…" she muttered. She stopped and mentally slapped herself,

"What am I saying?! I'm dealing with a Sith lord. They're dead inside and care about saving their own asses."

She sighed and twirled her hair. She shrugged off her skirt and pulled her boots off. She walked into the refresher and turned the shower on. She hadn't had a decent cleaning in a few days.

"Well and I'll smell better for dinner…" she looked at herself in the mirror and tried to see the Jedi she had been… was…

"I don't know what I see anymore…" she whispered. Her tattoo pulsed. She ran her finger over it. It gave her appearance a dark feel to it.  
>"Maybe that's why the Jedi didn't want me anymore…" she raked her nails over it, trying to rip it off, even though she knew it wouldn't work. She gave up after drawing a few drops of blood. She finished undressing and leaned on the wall of the shower as the water ran down her body.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Arcas stepped out of the shower, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. She heard a knock on her door.

"One moment!" she called.

She threw a towel over her body and rushed to the door. It slid open. She was surprised to see Savage standing there. She leaned against the frame of the door,

"Hello."

Savage looked at her,

"We expect you in the dining hall in about half an hour."

Arcas waved her hand,

"Cool. See you then."

And just like that the door slide shut.

She sighed, 'Everywhere I turn one of them is there' she thought, 'Maybe they're keeping tabs on me in case they think I'm going to run.'

She laughed and walked to her closet. Even though she didn't have a lot she found a robe someone had put in there for her. She put it on and fell inlove with the feeling of it on her skin.

She walked back to the refresher and toweled her hair out. She looked in the mirror. 'Guess this is just as best as I'm gonna look.' She thought. She sighed and pulled her boots back on. She slipped her saber into her boot and walked down the hallway. She felt oddly alone. It was off for her to have a whole section of a building to herself. But it was nice…

She focused on sensing where life forces were coming from. 'Easy' she thought as she detected them pulsing. She hurried along, eager to see who would show up for dinner. When she entered the room she was disappointed to see it was her, Savage, and of course Maul.

"God damn it…" she muttered, she was irritated but excited at the same time. 'Excited?' she thought. She shoved that feeling deep down inside her. She looked at Maul and shot him a look. She took a seat as far away from him as she could. Maul took this as a invitation and sat near here. Arcas rolled her eyes,

"The whole point of sitting as far as I could from you is because I don't like you."

She got up to move when Maul grabbed her arm,

"Sit. You're going to be a spending a lot of time training with me as it is, so you might as well get use to being in my presence."

Arcas looked at him and narrowed her eyes,

"Isn't that enough?"

She jerked her arm out of grasp and sat next to Savage, just to spite him. She looked at him with a devilish look. Maul just straightened his shoulders. He sat up and raised a glass,

"Tonight we celebrate the fall of a ruthless foolish tyrant! But we are also celebrating my rise to power! And our plans to rejoin the Sith will begin! Tonight we celebrate the arrival of new comrades!"

Maul smiled and took a drink. Arcas saw Savage mimic him. She grabbed her glass, but instead of taking a simple drink, she downed the wine and raised her glass for a refreshment. Maul opened his mouth to say something, Arcas held up a hand,

"If I have to dine with you, I'm going to need something to take the edge off. Trust me."

Maul closed his mouth and flicked a hand, signaling for the meal to be brought in.

Arcas leaned back, somewhat drowsy from her eventful day.

The meal consisted of very fat succulent fish, tender shaak meat, exotic cheeses, juicy fruit, and of course excellent wine. Arcas selected fish, a slice of cheese, and a few of the fruits. She already was on her 2nd glass of wine and she wasn't going to let it go farther than that. Maul and Savage both had large slices of the shaak meat and cheese. The only difference was Maul also had a fruit.

Arcas sliced into her fish and took a bit. The brothers ate as well in silence. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. Arcas swished her glass around, watching the contents swirl. Maul cocked an eye to her, watching her. He stood up,

"Today has been eventful. Let us all return to our quarters and have a quiet evening."

Arcas sighed happily. She slide out of her chair and got up. She walked out of the room and back to her quarters.

Maul sank back down into his chair. Savage looked at him,

"What is it brother?"

"I do not get her. She was so eager to join us earlier and now she does not even want to be in our presence. You cannot join someone and expect to not be around them." Maul said, folding his hands.

"Perhaps she is having 2nd thoughts on her decision." Savage said.

"Perhaps. We will see in the morning." Maul said.

The next morning Arcas was peacefully asleep in her room when light was streamed on her face. She pulled the blankets over and groaned. She knew who it was, she was just hoping he'd go away. The blankets were ripped back, revealing Arcas scrunched up. She opened her eyes.

"What?" she asked, expecting Maul.

"Maul expects you in the courtyard in half an hour." Savage said irritatively. Arcas rolled out of bed as Savage left. She rubbed her face and walked into the refresher. She turned the tap on, letting the water warm up. She grabbed a clothe and wiped her face with it, swishing water and mouthwash. She looked in the mirror to assess her appearance. She was satisfied with it. She walked out and slipped into her clothing, fishing her saber out of her boot. She clenched her fingers around it, feeling her confidence flow through it.

She strode over to her balcony and saw Maul meditating in the middle of the courtyard. She jumped off the balcony and landed lightly behind him.

"Good morning." He said.

"Morning to yourself." She said curtly.

He twisted his body to look at her,

"You are agitated. I'm assuming you know how to reach a meditative stage without my supervision. Come, sit."

He motioned for her to sit next to him. She figured it wasn't a bad idea to calm her nerves. She sat next to him, but not as close as he had suggested. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. As she relaxed she noticed Maul was synchronizing himself to her. She closed her mind so he wouldn't be able to pry into her thoughts.

"Don't close your mind off to me!" Maul said roughly. He grabbed her face and looked her straight in the eyes, his on fire. Arcas cocked a smile, enjoying his anger. Maul used the Force and slammed Arcas into a wall.

"Do not anger me!" he shouted, as Arcas grunted a bit at the force.

"Yes master." She said sarcastically. Maul threw her into a tree, hard. Arcas yelped at the impact, holding her arm where a branch had struck it. Blood welled at a few scratches on her arm. She staggered a bit.

"So weak." Maul taunted, pulling her into a Force choke.

Arcas struggled to breathe and when she felt a chance she used the force to push him, breaking his concentration. Once Maul had let her go she whipped her lightsaber out and took a stance. Maul wiped his mouth and pulled his saber out as well.

"Good there's still a fight in you!" he taunted. Arcas growled, reveiling to her Zabrak roots. She lunged for Maul first, crossing her blade with his. Despite him beating her against the wall and a tree she held her weight against him better than she expected. She jumped flipped over him quickly and swung her blade around, aiming towards Maul. He turned around quick enough to cover her blow, but not before she gave him a small nick on his arm. Maul hissed, strengthening his assault on her. He threw strikes at her left and right. She quickly countered them as quickly as she could, looking for an opening. She saw a small one and took it. Just as Maul was about to switch sides, Arcas threw a Force push at Maul, slamming him into a wall. He jumped up, but not before Arcas was close to him. He threw a kick at her and hit her midsection. She flew to the ground and was stunned for a moment. Maul held the blade to her head.

"You're smart and cunning. But not quick enough to outdo me." Maul said, still holding the blade. Arcas felt it singeing her hair. She reached for her saber, ready to surprise him the best she could. He stomped a foot on her hand,

"You just don't give up do you?"

Arcas hissed, squirming her hand under his boot, trying to free her hand. Maul smiled, he was enjoying watching her mind work. It was like watching a half educated Padawan, always trying to find new ways to escape.

He released her hand and withdrew his blade. Arcas grabber her saber and faced him, determination clear in her face. He stared her down, observing her labored breathing, pulsing bruised hand, and her scratches that had dried blood on them. He barely raised his hand, when Arcas already had her lightsaber ignited, ready to go.

"Tense are we?" Maul asked. Arcas stayed silent, holding her saber, eyeing him. Maul flicked his eyes, Arcas saw this and wondered what he was doing. Then she heard the heavy thud and turned to see Savage about to swipe her head off. She jumped back, waiting for his attack. Savage ran at her. She jumped over him, but before she could push off his back, he grabbed her leg and slammed her to the ground. Arcas was stunned for a moment, but saw him about to bring his lightsaber down on her. She slide out from between his legs and called her saber to her hand. She turned to face him and saw Maul running at her. She rolled her eyes quickly. She struck her blade at his and pushed as hard as she could against him, surprising him and forcing him to take a step back. Risking her advantage she swung her hand and punched him the arm. He was surprised by her sudden punch, but didn't relent. He backed off enough for Savage to swoop him. Arcas roared. She was tired of tag between the two brothers. She swung her leg hard and high enough to hit Savage in the head. She took the advantage to punch him hard in the stomach, causing him to bend from the impact and she kneed him in the chest. He fell to the ground with a thud. She raised her hand quickly and used the force to throw Savage against a wall, causing it to crack, which effectively ended him for the time being.

Arcas walked towards Maul, pulling her skirt off, revealing her slender legs.

"I'm sorry was there a lesson to today? Because all I've faced is one Zabrak that keeps backing from a fight and sending his brother in who is nothing more than an impulsive animal." Arcas said angrily. She was getting tired of switching between strategies between the two. She readied herself for Maul's attack and was confused when she saw him standing, defenseless. She lowered her guard slightly, but didn't lower her saber. Maul looked at her,

"Did you notice a difference when you channeled your anger? Did you feel the power of the dark side entrance you and power your tactical decisisons? That's what I can bring you!"

Arcas remained silent, trying not to believe there was darkness within her. She had been a Jedi…was… darkness was forbidden.

"I'm not dark. Just pissed off." She said irritated.

Maul stayed like a stone,

"Sure you are. Enough training today. Let us work on meditating and returning to a calm state."

Arcas flicked a look to Savage.

"Do not worry about him. He has been through worse. He was at one point gunned down by an entire flagship of droids." Maul said simply.

Arcas shrugged her shoulders, she was proud to have taken down a seven foot tall monster. She sat underneath a tree, putting herself in a comfortable position. Maul looked at her unusually.

"You wanted me relax? Being under a willow is relaxing. Now buzz off." She said rudely. Maul shrugged and sat in the middle of the courtyard.

Hours passed and Maul heard a noise. He turned and saw Savage slowly coming too, rubbing his head. Suddenly he remembered and ran over to Arcas. He grabbed her by the throat and held her with both hands. Her eyes jerked open and she kicked out, making contact with his midsection. He didn't notice.

"What will you do now woman without your saber to save you?!" he yelled.

"I didn't need my saber then and I don't need it now!" Arcas choked out. She grabbed one of his horns and focused on sending anguish and pain through him. Savage dropped her and held his head, shouting. Maul rushed over,

"What did you do?!"

Arcas rolled a shoulder,

"I don't know."

She walked away, not feeling a single bit of remorse for either of them. She walked up a stairway into the palace.

As soon as she was gone Savage looked up,

"It's gone…"

"What brother?" Maul asked, curious for clues as to what she had done.

"The pain and suffering. It was like being stabbed over all over and dying a thousand times." Savage explained.

"It must be how hard she kicked you early and whatever anguish she sent through you. Her first day and she's already darker. Excellent." Maul praised. He patted his brother affectionately,

"Good job on bringing her anger out."

Savage shook his head slightly,

"Next time that's your job."

Arcas walked out of the palace doors. She had felt cooped up inside it. She walked the streets of Mandalore. She looked all over and watched the civilians walking normally throughout the city. She was rethinking her decision to be with the brothers. She was feeling new emotions that were foreign to her. She was shaken by how she felt during her fight with Savage and Maul. She didn't know how she should feel. She wandered throughout the city, intending to lose herself and to maybe find what her decision on what to do with herself.

Night time had fallen. Maul noticed that the Jedi had not returned to the palace.  
>"Damn it!" he yelled.<p>

Savage came up to his side,

"What is it?"

"The woman has not returned!" Maul growled.

"And what of it?" Savage asked.

Maul slammed Savage into the wall,

"She is our infiltration spy! She could be our key into the Jedi Temple and into luring Kenobi here!"

Savage stared at him,

"I understand."

He turned to find some Death Watch warriors.

"Death Watch! My brother Maul commands you to storm the city and search for the Jedi woman we captured. She has escaped."

A warrior near Savage stepped forward,

"Why doesn't his Lord command us himself?"

Savage pulled his saber and ignited it, the blade went through the warrior's middle.

"That is why." He said with a smirk.

The other warriors stared at the fallen one and marched into the city looking for the long haired Zabrak woman.

Arcas looked at the glowing trees of Mandalore and the simple men. 'You are all such simpletons…' she thought negatively, 'But how lucky you are to not have to worry about all the choices of gifted individuals… but I wouldn't take back the choice to accept my abilities as a Jedi.' Arcas walked along the street thinking to herself. She heard the hooded voice of a Death Watch warrior. She looked in the direction it had come from and saw the helmet. She backed into an alley and looked around. She was trapped with only a wall behind her. 'I can only go up' she thought. Arcas scaled the wall up onto a rooftop. She met with a Death Watch warrior. Arcas stared at him,

"Uh oh."

She turned and ran jumping across the gaps between buildings. She could hear the warrior following. She thought quickly about how she was going to lose him.

"The Jedi's in the 7th sector. I'm keeping up with her, but I'm going to need backup!" the warrior reported back. Suddenly the current rooftop was surrounded with Death Watch. Arcas pulled her lightsaber out and growled, holding herself in a defensive stance. A shot was fired and Arcas jumped out of it's way. She was surrounded with blazer shots. She constantly moved and deflected bullets, desperately trying to think up a plan to defeat this whole squadron of them. She looked around as they fired at her and noticed none of they were barely moving as they fired at her, thinking they had the upper hand.

Arcas jumped up and bounced off them, using her lightsaber to render their jetpacks useless. She was about to come to the final warrior when he used a line to wrap around her leg and plummet her to the ground. She dropped and quickly rolled over, facing the remaining warrior, hoping to get revenge on him. She planted her hand on the ground and felt a weight on it. She saw it was the boot of Mandalorian armor.

"Shit."

Back at the palace Arcas was thrown onto her knees in front of Darth Maul. He stared at her. Arcas stood up and stared at him with her hands bound in energy bonds,

"Awe did you miss me?" she sneered.

Maul continued to stare uninterested in her comment. He leaned forward in his throne.

"Do you understand the complications you could have caused? Not to mention the ones you DID cause me!" Maul asked in all seriousness.

Arcas studied her bonds,

"Not really. Nor do I care as much."

Maul gripped her in a death hold with the force,

"You are one of my pawns in a little game with Kenobi. Do not think you're innocence to life has any effect on me. You are to follow my orders when I command so! Are we understood?"

Arcas held her throat,

"Under….stood!"

Maul let her go and she dropped to her knees, gasping for air. She stared at him and felt her hatred brewing. She turned and left to leave for her quarters.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Maul inquired.

Arcas gripped her hands together and the bonds fell to the ground. Using the force she flung them at Maul,

"No."

Maul held his hand and the debris did not hit him, but he did not retaliate against her. He watched her leave and turned his comlink on,

"I think I shall like a guard outside the Jedi's room and below her balcony at all times. Keep your weapons on high stun to keep her from leaving."

When the dinner hour came Arcas noticed no one summoned for her presence. 'Good riddance' she thought. Only minutes later though she heard a knocking at her door. She opened it and found a waiter droid carrying a plate of hot food,

"Under orders from Lord Maul you are to have dinner alone tonight in the comforts of your quarters." The droid computed out. Arcas said nothing and took the food. She ate in silence and wondered what she was going to do about his punishment towards her tomorrow.

"He'll probably work me as hard as he can tomorrow in a brutal manner…" she said quietly to herself.

She decided not to worry about it. If she died tomorrow by his blade at least she could end her suffering since she could not run from it. Arcas took a quick hot shower and went to bed, wondering what tomorrow would bring for her.He was going to keep


	7. Chapter 7

Arcas moaned as she slipped into a warm bath. Her body was aching. Maul had been working her hard all week long. In fact hard wasn't even the word for it. He had been a brutal trainer. He had nipped her here and there with his saber and even grazed her leg. He had let her become Savage's punching bag. She was constantly on her toes for any sign that Savage was on yet another rampage. But then she also had to be weary of watching out for Maul's surprise attacks.

Arcas closed her eyes and drifted off into a doze, dreaming of her comfortable life back at the Temple, watching Yoda train younglings, speaking to her old friends. She missed that life, but was reminded that they had abandoned her when she needed rescuing. She opened her eyes and dressed herself in her fluffy robe and wandered about the palace. She ran into Prime Minister Almec. She pushed him aside and intended to keep walking forward.

"You are the Jedi Lord Maul has recruited?" Almec asked.  
>"Yes, what's it to you?" Arcas snipped.<p>

"I have not met many Jedi, but the ones I have met were not as hostile as you or as rude." Almec said.

"Well when you've been abandoned by them you develop anger issues." Arcas responded.

Almec waved his hand,

"Too bad for the Jedi then. I have been searching for you as that Lord Maul has a mission for us."

"Us?" Arcas inquired.

"Yes. As Prime Minister I am in charge of Mandalore under Lord Maul. There is a political party in the next week and you are to attend with me. I have to show up being Prime Minister. And you are Lord Maul's spy. The best way for you to infiltrate is to be my guest." Almec told her.

"Who am I scouting out?" Arcas asked.

"Lord Maul did not tell me. You will have to ask him yourself. Well good night." Almec said and continued down the hallway.

Arcas twirled a strand of hair, 'So now my true purpose to Maul has been revealed' she thought. She decided to find the red bastard himself. She figured her best bet would be to find him in the communications room. She tightened her robe and turned right.

The door opened and sure enough Maul was bent over the HoloTable looking at where the best place to build a Death Watch camp. Arcas smoothly walked in,

"So what's this I hear about having to attend a political gathering with that sniveling Almec?"

"Ah how nice of you to KNOCK." Maul growled. He ordered everyone out.

"Your mission is to infiltrate the party with Almec and get information from the CEO of the phobium mining company, Valek Gorgiou. It's believed he's selling phobium crystals to the Separatists AND to the Republic."

Maul explained, he searched through the database and pulled up an image of him.

Arcas stood with her hand on her hip,

"He looks like a cocky asshole. Phobium is a useful mineral. No wonder he makes a fortune off it. Where is he from?"

"He's from the crime planet of Gargon. He has his headquarters stationed there because it'd be impossible to find it. He pays off everyone who visits him to keep it's location a secret, along with the vault of credits."

Maul explained,

"It would be very useful if you could find out exactly who he's selling the phobium to, along with the location of his headquarters. Once I have it, I'll send Savage on a mission with a squadron of Death Watch to find it. Sound clear?"

"Crystal. Except what am I exactly to wear to a political party? All I have are replicas of my regular attire and my night robe." Arcas asked, laughing internally at what Maul's response would be.

"Go wander through the stores of Mandalore and take a guard with you. Find something that will… intrigue Valek. Charge it the palace, Almec can deal with the budget himself."

Arcas bowed and returned to her room. She was excited to finally be able to do something that DIDN'T involve Maul himself. She settled herself down for bed and drifted off into dreams of shopping for herself for the first time in her life.

The next morning she went to her training with Maul, as she had been doing for the past few weeks of her new allegiance to him. He was meditating in the garden as she had expected. She stood behind him, waiting for him to acknowledge her, but also weary of an aerial attack from Savage. He sensed her weariness.  
>"Savage is not attending us today. Come, sit."<p>

She did. She positioned herself next to him and began to relax. Just as she was halfway through Maul grabbed her by the throat and pushed her to the ground, he growled, his eyes on fire. She kicked her knee into his midsection, partly hitting the cyborg part of him and partly hitting the flesh. He hunched a little from the impact. It wasn't much an opening, but it was the best she was going to get and she took it. Arcas threw her hand towards him and used the force to push him away. He steadied himself to a sliding stop and pulled his lightsaber out, growling with a smile at her. She held her hilt in her hand and turned. She ran to the wall and up it, using her momentum to push off it. She landed on a tree for barely a second before pushing off it as well. She sliced through a branch of the tree before landing behind Maul. He was ready for her. He ran at her, she stretched her hand out and force pushed him to the tree.

She heard a crack and saw he had heard it too. He looked up and saw the branch falling towards him. He sliced at a chunk of it before leaping away. He stopped.

"Getting more cunning are we?" Maul asked.

"I don't know. You tell me since you're the damn master of this relationship." Arcas retorted hotly, god how he irritated her.

Maul stayed silent and walked towards her. Arcas ignited her saber as a precaution. Maul just walked a circle around her and examined her,

"I can feel you getting stronger and stronger to the dark side. You are letting your anger flow through you. That is good. Let it continue and you will find decisions easier to decide and examine."

Arcas growled,

"Why do you continue to tell me I am dark? I would know if I was dark. I would know if I was evil like you or Savage!"

"The dark side is not 'evil'! The Jedi are who is evil! The Sith are who should be ruling and deciding!" Maul shot back.

"Really? Is that why you're hiding your face and retreating to the shadows constantly and letting Almec be your little puppet?" Arcas asked angrily.

"I hide from no one! I choose not to engage the Jedi! I am not nearly strong enough to take them all on. Not even Death Watch is. Or the Pikes. Or the Black Sun. The only ones strong enough to engage the Jedi are an army of Sith!" Maul said angrily. He took Arcas in a chokehold and lifted her into the air. She held her throat and gasped for air, unsure of what his next action.

"I hide from no one. You think you are special because I have not killed you. I could do that very easily." Maul growled.

"Then you are without a spy…" Arcas squeaked out.

Maul considered this and released his grip on her. She landed to the ground with a thump. He leaned down to her and forcefully held her face in his hand,

"Remember that I will always be stronger than you and I will kill you."

Arcas shivered away from his touch. She called her lightsaber to her hand and huddled up, trying to make herself as invisible as possible.

Maul walked away from her, glowering at how easily she irritated him, he was almost regretting not killing her yet, but she had made a point. Without her he would be without an innocence face to use as spy. He turned his comlink on,

"Savage come in."

"Yes brother?" Savage cracked through.

"I am sending the Jedi out to town to prepare for the political party as the prime minister's guest. I need her followed. But do so quietly and without her knowing. Do not go until I give the signal." Maul told him.

"Understood."

Maul headed to the Jedi's quarters and waited for her by her door. He knew she wasn't there yet, but he was prepared to wait. He studied his lightsaber and focused on its details and its faults. He meditated and soon heard the click of her boots from down the hall.

"Took you long enough." Maul commented.

"The hell you doing here?" Arcas asked angrily.

Maul brushed her question aside,

"I am here to instruct you on what you'll need to extract information from Valek. You'll need a fresh comlink, one that must be on at all times so we can track your movement and track what is said. Remember to get information on who Valek is selling the phobium to and see if he'll trust you enough to give you the location of his headquarters."

"Why is phobium so important to you? It's just a mineral." Arcas asked.

"Phobium is the source for the power for the cores here on Mandalore along with our heat source. I don't care what it's used for, but he only sells to important players in the galaxy and that could be important to me in the future." Maul explained,

"And one more thing, make sure you're dressed to catch his attention."

Arcas bowed and disappeared into her quarters. She was exhausted and excited to have a chance to get out of the palace for a while, even if it was just for a night. She washed herself up and dove into her bed.

The next morning Arcas was strolling around the garden, looking for Maul. But she could not find him anywhere. She couldn't sense him in any of the trees or behind any of the statues. She walked up to a Royal Guard,

"Where is Maul?"

The guard looked at her,

"He instructed me to inform you to meet him down in the detention cells today."

Arcas was baffled. She turned and left. 'Why would he want me down in the detention cells?' she thought. She thought over the past few days of her actions towards him and whether they were bad enough for her to be locked up. 'No… because then I wouldn't have enough time to prepare for the political party.' She thought to herself. She shrugged her shoulders and kept her lightsaber in hand, fingers over the ignition button. She crept down the hallways, positive he was lurking somewhere. She kept her eyes peeled for a red blur and thoroughly inspected each cell. She heard a small sound and whirled around, her lightsaber ignited, lighting the halls up with a blue glow. There was nothing or no one behind her. She relaxed a bit, but not too much. She was definitely not going to let Maul get the best of her too much this time.

She crept quietly ahead and kept her saber down by her side. She felt Maul's dark presence whirling all over around her. She slowly began to feel herself become overwhelm. She mentally shook herself and took a defensive stance. Quickly she caught a flash of Maul's eyes glowing in the dark. She realized that Zabraks eyes glowed to give them superior night vision. She let herself trust her eyes and instinct. Soon enough she caught his movements and tracked them. She blocked an attack from her right and that was gone in a flash. Then she felt him coming for her straight on. Arcas jumped straight up in the air and threw her hand down towards Maul, using the Force to push him from her landing spot. She kicked him the head as she landed and focused quickly on finding him again. She felt another presence.

"God damn!" she yelled, "Really Maul?"

Savage was down here with them. Arcas felt both of their attacks coming towards her. When she had both of them in sight she focused on the Force strongly and Force blasted the brothers away. She roared in anger and lunged at Savage. Her saber blurred a million different directions and she cut his arms up severely in anger. She launched herself off his broad chest and landed against Maul. She turned around and Force blasted him into a wall and punched his wrist hard against the steel wall. His saber fell from his hand. She held hers to his throat and called his saber to her hand. She held it to the other side of his throat and growled at him. Maul looked amused,

"Perhaps you do have more potential."

Arcas was a little taken back, but was weary of his words. She was holding Maul in a vulnerable spot. She felt both the sabers ripped from her hands and was lifted into the air and slammed into a wall. She whimpered as her arm bone cracked. Maul picked her up physically by the neck and looked at her in disgust,

"You caught one opponent and forgot the other. Disappointing."

He let her go and motioned for Savage to follow him. Arcas continued to lay, thinking.

'How did I forget about Savage?! Damn it!' she thought,

'Screw this!' she got up and stormed out of the detention cells. She walked out of the palace and into the streets of Mandalore.


	8. Chapter 8

Arcas had forgotten how beautiful Mandalore was. It had beautiful trees with exquisite buildings and they were lit up in the prettiest way with lights. Arcas stopped in the city center and stared up at the beauty before her. 'How could Maul rule such a beautiful planet?' she thought. She stood, staring. A citizen came up to her,

"Beautiful morning isn't it?"

"The worst actually." Arcas answered.

"Why? Because yer holding yer arm as if you got the stars beaten out of ye!" the citizen said. Arcas turned to the citizen and saw it was an old man,

"It got caught in a machine.. I'm on my way to the hospital, but I thought… you're right it is a beautiful morning." Arcas bowed and left. She liked citizens, when they didn't talk to her. She ran down an alley and focused on using the Force to dull the pain rushing through her arm. She felt it recede a little and sighed. She quietly exited the alley and found a small little boutique.

Upon walking in Arcas was amazed at the place. She hadn't been to a boutique before, but she loved it immediately. Everything inside was so modern, from glass tables and walls to beautiful art hanging in the place. An aqua Nautolan girl walked up to her,

"What can I do for you mad'am?" she asked sweetly. Arcas was still admiring the place,

"Umm…" she gathered her thoughts quickly,

"I need some highlights redone I guess."

"Oh easy! Let me get someone for you!" the Nautolan girl said. She came back a few minutes later,

"Alright so unfortunately, all the highlight stylists are busy with other guests, but I can do them just about as good as they can, it's just not my main focus. Is that alright with you?"

"Perfectly."

"Excellent! So right this way!" The Nautolan girl led the way to a station that was in a quieter area of the boutique.

"So my name is A'siah."

"Nice to meet you, A'siah. So umm just the highlights in my hair need to be redone. They're a little faded which I don't mind, but I have a party to attend to and well let's just say I need to grab someone's attention." Arcas explained.

A'siah quickly searched through Arcas hair and found her reddish grey highlights,

"What an unusual color for such black hair! It's beautiful! Definitely going in the records book!"

"You keep a records book?" Arcas asked curiously.

"Absolutely! Of all the wackiest, most beautiful or ugliest hair we've ever had the pleasure or disgust in serving! It's like a hobby to us stylists." A'siah answered, while mixing a chemical together.

"That does sound somewhat fun!" Arcas laughed.

"It is! So who's this man I'm hearing about needing his attention caught?" A'siah asked.

"Just some scum bag who's ripping off an… acquaintance of mine." Arcas answered carefully.

"Ooh revenge! Damn girl you got some spunk in you to that for an acquaintance." A'siah said cheerfully.

"Ah well… I owe him a lot unfortunately so it's the least I can do for him." Arcas said.

"Ah, an ex?" A'siah commented.

"What? No!" Arcas rejected quickly.

"Nope! Has to be! No one calls an ex close, just an acquaintance and you do favors for an ex because they helped you learn a lesson through their failures aka 'owing them a lot!'" A'siah laughed.

As irritating a statement as that was Arcas did find humor in it.

"No he's definitely not an ex. But I knew him long ago and now he's so… desperate that he needs the help of his brother and acquaintances such as myself." Arcas stated.

"Or that." A'siah said, admitting defeat,

"Well either way when's this party you're attending? I hear about a lot of parties so maybe I've heard it."

She had wetted down all of Arcas hair and was picking through it to find the highlights and soaking them with the highlighting chemical.

"In about 4 days I believe. I've still got to go shopping for the right dress and the perfect pair of shoes! I was planning on doing that today after being done here." Arcas said, smiling.

"Oh girl! You've GOT to let me go with you! I am absolutely amazing at picking out the right outfits for the right occasions!" A'siah said excitedly. Arcas thought about this momentarily, 'What could be the harm in it?' she thought. She was beginning to like this girl and having a friend on the outside would be good for her.

"You know what? Sure! It would be a lot of fun!" Arcas told her. The aqua skinned girl squealed in excitement.

"PERFECT!"

The next hour the two women discussed everything from shirts to the perfect male specimen. Soon enough though A'siah had finished the highlights on Arcas hair and Arcas couldn't have loved her hair more,

"Oh my! You did a wonderful job!"

"Of course I couldn't have! I never miss my mark." A'siah answered. She closed her station and turned to her coworkers,

"Girls it's dead around here today so I'm off to help this lovely girl pick out some drop dead gorgeous outfits."

Arcas looked behind her as they exited the boutique,

"You can just walk out like that?"

"The owner and I are pretty good friends. She doesn't really mind if anyone leaves during the day as long as there's at least 3 stylists around, it isn't during a rush, and the place isn't a mess." A'siah explained. She was studying the buildings when she pulled Arcas into a formal shop.

"Arcas! You HAVE to look at the dresses here. They are just to die for!" A'siah said excitedly. She was pulling dresses off every rack for Arcas to try on. Quickly she had about 5 dresses for the Zabrak girl to try. A'siah shoved her into a dressing room.

"I'll be waiting out here for you darling! And don't worry, I'll have some wine waiting to!" A'siah said. Arcas laughed from inside herself,

'That girl has got some energy!' she thought to herself. She stripped out of her armor shirt and brown skirt. She slipped the first dress on and walked out. She smiled when she saw A'siah's jaw drop.

"So what do you think?" Arcas asked.

"A-maz-ing!" A'siah said.

The dress was satin white with a tube top. Around the bust area the dress had black sequined designs swirling from each breast down the stomach and stopping at the waist. Arcas was personally inlove with it. She felt like a queen in it.  
>"That is definitely going in the keep pile!" A'siah said. Arcas nodded in agreement. She glided back in the dressing room and tried on the second dress which was a copy of the 1st dress but in black with white sequin.<p>

"Keepers!" A'siah said. Arcas couldn't help but agree.

The 3rd dress was white. It showed a lot more skin than the previous 2 dresses, but not enough that it was disrespectful. This dress covered both breasts and had slips over each bicep and a silver chain running from under the left breast, under the arm and to the back. It had 2 slips of white fabric that hung off the slips from each biceps and connected to the skirt that hung off the hips and was short on the left hip and long on the right, but over the left leg it had strips of white fabric. Arcas loved this dress because it made her feel like a ghost.

The 4th dress was a medium aqua color that wrapped around the bust area and met on the left side in silver sequin and flowed down the legs and opened with a slit.

"That's beautiful and so elegant!" A'siah gasped. She immediately put it in the keeper pile. Arcas loved having A'siah around to pick up dresses for her.

"Well I believe that's all. What do you think?" Arcas asked. A'siah yawned,

"Yes definitely! But how are you going to afford these?!"

"Don't worry about it!" Arcas smiled. She walked up to the counter and had the clerk run all the dresses up.

"That'll be about 1300 credits please!" She said cheerfully. Arcas smiled,

"Please put it on the palace's tab! It will be paid in full!"

"Of course." The clerk said and she bagged all the dresses up. A'siah's eyes were wide,

"You put 1300 credits on the palace's tab?! Are you mad?!"

"No! Remember that acquaintance? He's the one who told me to! He's a member of the palace staff." Arcas explained.

"Who?!" A'siah asked pleadingly.

"Almec." Arcas fibbed.

"You're so lucky." A'siah said. They passed a shop window when a glint caught Arcas eyes. She stopped and stared in. She was looking at the most beautiful pair of heels she had ever seen. They were salmon pink with silver-white stiletto heels. Arcas rushed in to try them on.

A'siah sighed,

"I've wanted those for months."

Arcas smiled,

"What else have you wanted?"

A'siah picked up a pair of salmon colored heels with a gold studded stiletto. On the front pump it also had gold studs. Then she picked up a pair of simple black lace heels, along with a pair of white heels with pink cheetah print and pink under sides on them.

"All of these."

Arcas looked at the clerk,

"Can you get all of those and these," she held up the ones she was holding, "in size 8?"

A'siah's eyes bulged with happiness.

"That's my size as well!"

Arcas laughed,

"I figured."

Arcas rang up all the shoes as soon as the clerk brought them back the right sizes.

"700 credits please."

"Charge it to the palace." Arcas said.

"Will do!"

A'siah and Arcas walked out of the store and both girls squealed in excitement.

"Come to the boutique when you're getting ready for that party! I'll do you up beautifully and you can tell me which dress and shoes you're wearing." A'siah said happily.

"Sure thing!" Arcas said, "I gotta start heading back, see you soon A'siah!"

"Likewise!"

Both girls departed and Arcas tried not to skip to the song in her heart.

Maul watched the Jedi glide through the palace's doors and head towards her wing of the palace. He decided to follow her. Quickly he caught up with her.

"Filling you guilt at my beating you with a shopping spree?" Maul goaded.

"No actually. I am preparing for that party as you had requested." Arcas snapped.

"Ah so you're what has caused Almec to have a panic attack." Maul laughed.

Arcas couldn't help but join in his laughter,

"Hahaha! That pleases me to my core!"

Maul stopped laughing, he had not realized she disliked the prime minister as much as he did.

Arcas breezed into her quarters and placed her newfound belongings in the armoire.

"Well I need to head down to the infirmary to assess the damage your brother did to my arm." Arcas said. She bowed and pushed past him.

Maul watched her leave. Something about her intrigued him. He did not know what. 'Perhaps it is because she is of the same species as Savage and I' he thought, 'No I am much too… advance for something like that to intrigue me this much.' He could not put his finger on it. He shrugged it off best as he could and went to find his brother. He needn't look far when he heard a clatter in the hallway. He turned his head to see Savage disadvantage many of the Death Watch. As brave of warriors they were he sensed their fear. And he knew Savage would sense it as well. He leaned against a wall to watch. Savage picked the Death Watch warriors up like rag dolls and threw them every which way. He watched as they slowly stood up to avoid his brother's attention and then ran for their lives down the hallway. Soon Savage was alone. Maul walked out from his watching place, clapping his hands slowly.

"Well done brother. You have disarmed a few of our squadron."

"They are not our squadron if they mock us and our leadership." Savage said hotly.

"MY leadership" Maul retorted, "And they can report to me or you can bring them to me directly!"

Savage growled.

"So on to other matters. Has Almec confirmed that Valek is indeed going to be at the political party?" Maul asked.

"Yes. Along with a few senators from the Republic. Meaning we cannot show ourselves or have any sort of Death Watch, Pike, Black Sun etc escort the Jedi and Almec. It must be a Royal Guard that will be their protection for the night." Savage reported to his brother. Maul was not too pleased with this, but he couldn't really change what had already been done.

"Very good Savage. I shall see you tomorrow in the detention center again." Maul said, he turned his back and left. He needed to assess his Death Watch Warriors and pick out who would be best suited for the task of watching over the Jedi and Almec. He called up each team,

"Death Watch. Meet me in the palace's pavilion. I have a job for one of you."

Maul slowly made his way to the private pavilion and was pleased to find all of the Warriors waiting for him.

"Line up in groups!" he commanded. Feet shuffled and they were all grouped together.

"Now step forward those that are stealthiest."

About 15 warriors stepped forward.

"Which of you are the best in tracking?" Maul asked.

Six warriors raised their hands.

"You six. Step forward."

They did.

"Who are the best of guarding?"

Four warriors shuffled back and left 2 standing.

"You two are to be my eyes and ears of the political party that is coming up in a few days. You are to follow a safe distance behind the Jedi and record her conversations with people of importance. Understood?"

"Sir yes sir." The warriors said.

Maul turned.

He turned looking for Almec and was sure he would know where to find him. He turned for the archivist hall and sure enough found the nearly bald man hunched over records.

"Almec!" he called sharply.

The old man jumped,

"Yes Lord Maul? How can I serve you today?"

"Stop groveling." Maul said distastefully.

Almec bowed down.

"At this political party I need you to make Arcas feel welcome and liked. But do not cling to her, as we need to make Valek believe she is 'available'. Being so, I request that you make sure that her attire for the night is appropriate but eye catching. I do not wish for her to look as a whore. Even though your face runs this palace it is mine and I will not have rumors of a whore among its halls. Do you understand?" Maul commanded.

"Yes Lord Maul." Almec mumbled.

Hours later Almec took a deep breathe and headed towards the basement of the palace where the infirmary was kept for palace staff. He had checked with the medical droids to confirm that the Jedi was still there. He walked down and played the scene out in his head. He was becoming less and less fond of the Zabrak species. Almec came to the medical hall and found the Jedi in one of the first rooms. The medical droid had a blue beam over her arm and was analyzing.

"The arm appears to be slightly fractured." The droid computed out.

"Will this fracture affect her performance at the political party we are to attend?" Almec asked. Not that he cared much, but he knew Maul would be upset.

The droid computed for a few seconds,

"No it will not if she takes it easy for the rest of the time before the party and she takes this prescription."

On cue another droid came in and handed a bottle of 3 glowing capsules to Arcas and then quietly left.

"What are these?" Arcas asked.

"They are bone strengthers and healing boosters. The boosters will be less effective though with continued physical stress." The droid beeped.

"What about mental strength?" Almec asked.

Arcas shot him a look with Almec returning one.

"She will be fine." The droid spoke.

"Perfect. Arcas lets get on our way to preparing you for our party." Almec grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room.  
>They walked together, both in silence.<p>

"What do you want?" Arcas asked.

"Lord Maul has asked that I inspect your outfit for our evening." Almec answered.

"My outfit?!" Arcas said, confused.

"Yes. He would like to make sure it is appropriate, but not too revealing." Almec explained.

Arcas thought about the ghostly dress.

"He won't be disappointed then." She said quickly.

They made it to her quarters and she swept her hand over the monitor which opened her door. Arcas opened her armoire and pulled out the black dress with the white sequin on the bust and down the waist.

"Good enough?" Arcas asked.

"It is satisfactory. Now, put it away and come." Almec said and turned around.

"Uh no. I have no idea where you want me to go with. I want to know what I'm getting into." Arcas said firmly.

"If you want to continue your good life here around the palace I suggest you follow me." Almec lightly threatened.

Arcas laughed,

"Am I seriously suppose to take that as a threat? You're a puny old man."

"I run this palace. I am the one who has taken care of matters here for some time before my indictment and now I take care of matters again." Almec said hotly.

"Maul runs this palace through your face and he is the one who barks the orders. I'll take my orders from him." Arcas said firmly.

"Fine! These are orders from him!" Almec said almost shouting.

Arcas swept her hand and Force pushed Almec out of the room.

"Bye." She said and shut the door.

Almec got up angrily and pulled out his portable communicator,

"Lord Maul."

"Yes Almec?" Maul asked irritably.

"I have approved the Jedi's attire, but she will not come for recon on the party." Almec said.

"And why is that?" Maul asked.

"Because she does not believe the orders come from you." Almec answered.

Through the communicator Almec could see Maul rub his eyes,

"You could not even manage to have her step 2 steps outside of her apartment and remotely lock the door so she would be forced to follow you."

"No…" Almec said.

"God damn Almec how weak are you? I will come down myself and force her out of her room. What did the medical droids say?" Maul asked, annoyed.

"She has 3 glowing capsules she must take but while under their influence she must not endure physical stress as it will render the capsules useless." Almec said quickly. He shut off communications and made his way out of the wing. He did not wish to be around while Maul pulled the girl out.

Within minutes Maul was in the wing and at the girl's door.

"Hello Maul." Arcas muffled voice could be heard through the door.

"Arcas have you taken the capsules the droid prescribed you?" Maul asked.

He could sense the confusion rolling off her.

"Uh… No?" Arcas asked.

"Good." Maul said. He used the force to open the door and stretched his hand out. Arcas was slammed into her bedboard and she heard a crack. Maul pulled her forward and ignited his saber and grazed her arm.

"All orders that Almec barks at you… ARE FROM ME. Do not make me come back and hurt you worse this time." Maul twisted her bad arm and grazed her midsection, burning her clothes in the process.

"Aagh!" she yelped.

Maul withdrew his saber but kept a firm grip on her,

"Now, follow me. You are in need of preparations before the party and that is what I sent Almec to do for me."

Arcas straightened up and meekly followed him.

He led her to a large conference room with a holographic machine. Maul turned to her, Arcas stayed a few feet back from him.

"I'll allow Almec to brief you on who you is to show up at the party, their home planets, and their occupations. Savage and I will stand guard outside the doors so do not believe you can escape from Almec. Savage has proven countless times that he can overpower you. Do you understand?" Maul said menacingly.

Arcas hung her head,

"Yes my lord."

Maul left and Arcas took a seat in one of the chairs around the table. Almec was already seated and awaiting to start.

"Lovely to see you again my dear" he sneered.

"Just because I cannot escape or harm you does not mean I like you any more than I did before so just get started with you presentation." Arcas snapped.

Almec laughed and pressed a button his remote, showing the first guest to the party,

"Here we have Orn Free Taa. He is the representative of…"

"Ryloth. I have been to enough senate meetings to know of him. His planet is starving and yet he is plump and over eager to shove any means of food into his mouth rather than work harder to have supplies sent back to his home. Next." Arcas said, cutting Almec off. He huffed a bit,

"Next we have Kin Robb. Representative of the planet Taris. She too belongs to the Senate, but also to Satine's Council, hoping for neutrality. Probably because of her home planet's very violent past."

"Probably also to cure it of it's sections that divide the wealthy from the poor with many physical barriers." Arcas chipped in.

Almec rolled his eyes,

"I do not care her reasons, I am just briefing you. Ah Onaconda Farr. Quite honorable at times I have heard. He comes from Rodia, although there's not much of his planet left due to his people suffering from famine. Oh well, let us move on to planets more closer to Mandalore such as Mandallia!"

An image of a large blue giant with pointy ears appeared. Arcas could tell the individual was female.

"Who's that? I've never seen her in the senate. Is she new?"

"She does not belong to the senate. She is Kelisea Vatari. She is Mandalore's commander of our backup army which consists of her species." Almec explained.

"Isn't Mandalore a neutral planet? Meaning no war?" Arcas inquired.

"Yes, but if we are attacked then it is not a bad idea to have a neighboring planet, such as Mandallia, as our backup." Almec answered.

Arcas stared at the image for a moment, impressed with the creature's size. Almec flipped to the next individual,

"Here we have Groznik Kalranoos."

"A nerf herder? They're all over the galaxy." Arcas said.

"Yes indeed they are, but he's from Vorpa'ya, a planet that use to be lush and bountiful, but is now a dust planet. But his planet is not important. What is is what this farmer grows and dries for us." Almec said greedily.

"And what would that be?" Arcas asked.

"Nysillin crop." Almec said.

"But that's a valuable crop!" Arcas exclaimed.

"Yes and for years I have been slipping it into our medical supplies without Satine knowing it and making sure our soldiers get it to keep them strong. All because of this one nerf herder who grows it." Almec said.

"So why is he coming to the party?" Arcas asked.

"Because he has decided he would like to sell it to other political figures. I have ensured everyone coming will not be interested in buying it off him." Almec concluded.

"So on to Huff Tovar. He is my personal bounty hunter from the planet Concord Dawn." Almec said.

"I've heard of him. He does somewhat okay work, but you always know when it's him." Arcas jeered.

"What?!" Almec asked, confused.

"Aha yes! He always craves his symbol into all his weapons, but you cannot retrieve bullets and arrows from bodies, so when the Jedi or police droids find it, we know exactly who we are looking for. Except the sly bastard is ALWAYS changing planets. He never stays more than 3 days on a planet, whether it be a grassland or a big city." Arcas was almost laughing now.

"Damn fool! I will be telling him to stop his nonsense carving or I will have his head!" Almec said angrily.

Arcas used the force to pluck the remote for the hologram from Almec's fingers and flipped to the next guest. She was presented with the image of a handsome human man.

"Ooh, hello who is this?" Arcas asked, purring.

Almec rolled his eyes,

"That is your objective for the night. Valek Gorgiou."

"More like Valek Gorgeous!" Arcas purred.

"You are impossible. He is the CEO of a phobium mining company. Do you not remember Maul informing you of this?" Almec asked irritably.

Arcas continued to stare, slowly recollecting her conversation with Maul on this man.

"Ah yes I do. He was not as appealing then as he is now." Arcas said.

….

Outside the conference room Maul and Savage stood, on guard for Arcas to make an escape from Almec. Maul was beginning to find it amusing the lengths she was going to to escape from his, Savage's and Almec's clutches. But she was becoming more and more of burden. He turned to Savage.

"What did you find out from following the Jedi around in the city?" Maul asked his brother. Savage had followed the Jedi around personally, even though she sliced his arms up that morning.

"Nothing really except she has made a friend." Savage reported.

"A friend hmm? Perhaps we can use that to our advantage over her…" Maul said, deep in thought.

He felt a wave of admiration coming from the room and looked through the window to see Arcas holding her chin in her hands while staring at the image of Valek. He felt a ball of something well up in his chest over seeing this and he came to realize he was feeling agitated by her admiration for that man.

Savage spoke,

"Brother are you well?"

Maul whirled around,

"Why is she admiring him?!"

Savage didn't know what to say. Maul stormed into the room coolly, checking his emotions back into place.

"Almec. Has Arcas been fully briefed on guests and her mission?" he asked.

"Yes Lord Maul. Valek was the last main guest to be discussed." Almec answered.

"Good. Now leave." Maul said.

Almec bowed and left. Maul turned to Arcas,

"Are you prepared for this mission?"

"Fully." Arcas said.

"Good. The party is in a few days. Take this time to recooperate and make any further preparations."

Arcas bowed and left.

Maul turned back to his brother,

"Now what was that you were saying about her making a friend?"

Over the next few days Arcas was enjoying being injured. Although she still training daily it was not physical training. Maul had been doing mental training with her. He had been having her lift pillars and pots with her mind and making her hold them there in place. She had been weak at first, but she could feel herself getting stronger.

"Arcas."

She turned to see Maul walking down the hall to her. Arcas looked at him confused,

"Why is it you are always following me yet I never reach out to you?"

Maul laughed slightly,

"Probably because you have gone to desperate measures to escape from me."

Arcas lightly touched her side where she had stabbed herself in an attempt to be free,

"Didn't work out so well hmm? Why do you need me so badly?"

"Because I need a face that is not well known throughout the galaxy." Maul said simply.

"You couldn't have just chosen a random face off the street?" Arcas asked.

"I prefer people with Force sensitivity and cunningness. Such as you." Maul said.

Arcas processed this, thinking of what to say next.

"Is that suppose to be a compliment?" she asked.

"It is whatever you would it to be." Maul said. Arcas shrugged her shoulders and looked at Maul,

"Is there going to be a guard at the party with Almec and I?"

"Of course, but mostly for the Prime minister's sake than your own. And for my own surveillance." Maul answered.

"Ah okay. Well… I had best be going. Almec sent word he wants to meet me in the palace ballroom. I am not sure what for though." Arcas told him.

"Yes I had heard. Yet this is NOT one of my orders to him." Maul said quietly. A bit confused himself. Arcas grinned,

"Does that mean I don't have to go?"

"Good try. No you ARE going." Maul pushed her slightly. He wanted to see what Almec was up to as well.

Within minutes the duo was in the ballroom where Almec was standing talking to someone who looked like a tailor. There was also a music projector in the room.

"Almec. What is it you require of Arcas today?" Maul asked.

"Nothing to strenuous. But it occurred to me that if a…. dance… should surface at the party that we had better give our spy a few dance lessons. Nothing too extraordinary, just something elegant." Almec explained.

Arcas almost hurled,

"I have to learn to dance… with you.."

"Yes my dear. Let's get started shall we?" Almec said.

"Give me one moment prime minister." Arcas said as kindly as she could. She turned to leave and felt her arm caught by Maul.

"Where do you think you're going?" he hissed.

"To change into more suitable dance clothes!" Arcas hissed back. She could tell he wasn't convinced.

"Follow me if you don't believe me." She said quickly and turned to leave. Maul did indeed follow her.

She hurried up to her quarters and slammed the door shut on Maul before he could barge in after her. She stripped her boots, skirt and black top and replaced the top with a pink tank top and replaced her boots with the gold studded heels. While she had had time in the past few days she had gone shopping (AGAIN) with A'siah. They had bought her a couple of tank tops and some leggings, which she was already wearing. Arcas opened the door.

"Ready!"

She saw Maul's eyes widen a bit at her appearance,

"How… suitable."

"Thanks. Let's go." She rushed past him. Maul turned to follow and slowly trudged after her. He had actually thought how… appealing she looked. Her clothing hugged her body, showing what slight curves she had. It had been exquisite. And her new shoes had made her legs look longer. Which was an improvement because she was a few inches shorter than he was. He knew he was going to be reeling over that image of her for a while.

He quickly shook his head, 'This is a Jedi mind trick! I am far too superior for something as lust to overcome me!' he tried to convince himself. He hurried after her and quickly caught up. They walked back to the ballroom in silence. Maul could hear music coming from the room. They rounded the corner and saw Almec loosening his old joints with a couple steps of dance.

"Ah you're back! Good! Let's get started."

After an hour's of dancing Arcas had picked up how she was suppose to let her partner lead, but she was having trouble memorizing the steps.

"You can remember lightsaber techniques, yet you cannot remember dance steps? Astonishing." Almec jeered.

"Guess I'm better at fighting than dancing." Arcas said quietly. She made a move to grab her saber and Almec jumped sky high back in fear. Arcas began laughing,

"Damn you're such a wuss!"

Maul was amused with how she toyed with Almec. But he could also sense she was not really engaged in the dance steps. He however had memorized it perfectly.

"Almec, you're looking a bit dry. Why don't you go refresh yourself?" he suggested.

A wicked smile played across Almec's face,

"Thank you my lord."

He turned and left.

Maul offered his hand out to Arcas,

"A dance?"

She looked like she didn't believe him,

"Since when do you dance?"

"I don't but I have memorized this pattern that you fail to. Now a dance." Maul said.

Arcas had no choice, but to accept. She lightly took his hand and the music began playing over again.

"Now let yourself go and just follow your partner's movements. It is relatively easy." Maul crooned quietly. Arcas relaxed slightly.

"There you go. Now just pay attention to my steps and the rest will come easier." Maul said quietly.

Arcas did as he said and it did come, as she knew it would. A tiny part of her rejoiced.

"Is that joy I am sensing?" Maul said.

Arcas stayed silent.

"I knew you knew how this went. Why did you resist it? It is obviously so easy for you." Maul pushed his point a little more.

Arcas broke away from him, but was caught staring into his eyes,

"It's not easy!"

"That is a lie."

Arcas bit her lip,

"Dancing is… is a bad memory for me."

Maul didn't ask anymore of her.


	9. Chapter 9

Finally the day for the party had arrived! Arcas had been trying to slip out of the palace so she could meet up with A'siah and get her hair all done up for the party. But somehow guards kept catching her at every exit. Finally she had enough and went on a search for Maul. All she could find was Savage.

"Savage!" she called.

He ignored her.

"God damn it you idiotic brute!" she taunted, trying to get his attention.

He swung around, his eyes blazing.

"Ah that's more like it! Where can I find your brother? I have a quarrel with him." She asked.

Savage just growled. He turned and left. Arcas followed him, muttering all sorts of curses at him. But as she followed him she realized he was not trying to evade her. She hoped he was leading her to Maul himself.

After a few twists and turns her suspicions turned out to be right. She saw Maul leaning over a table going over guarding plans for tonight.

"Maul!" she called sharply.

He looked up.

"Why is it every time I go to leave this palace today I am blocked at every exit?" she asked irritably.

"I cannot have my spy out of the palace today, especially today." Maul answered simply.

"So how am I suppose to have my hair and makeup done?" Arcas asked, twirling a strand of hair.

"I thought you might ask that." Maul snapped his fingers and two guards came in dragging an aqua Nautolen girl.

"A'siah!" Arcas rushed forward and pulled her friend out of their clutches. Arcas looked angrily at Maul. He was smirking,

"Did you think I had not noticed your leavings?"

Arcas stayed silent for once. She picked her friend up from the floor and quietly ushered her towards her room.

Maul pulled Savage to the side,

"See to it that they are indeed heading to Arcas quarters. Also I do not want that Nautolen girl to leave the palace tonight."

Savage nodded and silently followed.

A'siah was breathing in a panicky way,

"Who are those people?! Those aren't the Death Watch we have believed them to be!"

Arcas chewed her lip slightly,

"Yeah… They are the TRUE Death Watch. They are who I live with here at the palace… their leader is the guy who has the red skin."

A'siah looked at her,

"Do they treat you as roughly? Oh how I wish Satine were still in command! If I had known how… rude the Death Watch was I'd come running to her and not believe the lies!

Arcas kneeled down to her friend,

"I can take care of myself around them. I'm a lot tougher than I look. But A'siah before things get bad here on Mandalore you need to get off planet and somewhere else. Because things are indeed going to go bad, I just don't know when…"

A'siah nodded,

"I understand."

Both girls got up off the floor and Arcas let her lean on the bed and got her a glass of water from the refresher.  
>"Take your time in recovering yourself, but I have to start getting ready for the party." She said gently.<p>

"Oh the party! I'm suppose to do your hair!" A'siah jumped up.

"No, if you still need…" Arcas began to say.

"Nope! What I need is a good distraction and your beautiful hair is it! Now sit down missy!" A'siah said.

An hour later A'siah had curled and fluffed up Arcas hair. Arcas combed her fingers through her hair, she absolutely loved it.

"A'siah! You've done a marvelous job! I love it!" Arcas said happily.

"Hopefully that'll catch a few eyes tonight!" A'siah said excitedly.

"Let's hope it's the ones I need." Arcas said slightly sulkily. A'siah twisted her head slightly,

"Why the pouty face?"

"I'm not pouting!" Arcas said quickly.

"Liar! Now come on change into your dress so I can assess the right makeup." A'siah said all business like. Arcas grumbled a little and pulled the black dress from the armoire. She slipped off her armor and pulled the dress over her head, careful to keep her hair perfect. A'siah looked at her face intently.

"I'm thinking a smokey black blutterfly look. I'll make your eyelashes look longer and thicker and a lot of dark around the eyes to give off that mysterious feel." A'siah said happily.

Arcas sat quietly while A'siah did her makeup and chatted on about a whole world of things.

Maul paced around the room. He was itching for something to do and all the preparations for the political party had been made. Savage came up and stood like a statue watching his brother,

"What has got you so wound up my brother?" his deep voice asked.

"I am not wound up! I am just curious as to who Valek is selling his phobium too. Hopefully someone useful." Maul said absent mindedly. Savage wasn't buying it,

"Right? You are sure it has nothing to do with the Jedi?"

Maul gave his brother a dangerous look,

"Don't test me Savage."

Savage bowed and left.

Maul thought about it… 'I shall like to attend this party and observe the Jedi's skills'. He walked into the mess hall where the Death Watch warriors mostly spent their time. He found the two he had chosen to accompany Almec and Arcas to the party. He pulled one aside,

"Your duties have been required elsewhere. I want you to patrol the streets of Mandalore and make sure the Black Sun aren't selling any spices to anyone shady. Am I understood?"

The warrior nodded. Maul let him go and left. He began to search for a Mandalorian warrior uniform to hide his identity…

A speeder was waiting outside for Arcas and Almec to board. Arcas walked out with a fluffy white coat wrapped around her, her black dress spilling out underneath. Almec was dressed in a casual white suit with two guards standing on either side of him.

"Ready to go my dear?" he asked.

"Sure." She said simply. She climbed into the floating speeder and heard her comlink blink. She pulled it out and Savage's face popped up.

"Where is Maul?" she asked.

"He had matters to attend to. Now remember your mission tonight is to find who Valek is selling his phobium to and if you can find where his headquarters are so we can steal his vault of credits." Savage said.

Arcas nodded and the comlink shut off. Arcas noticed how close Almec was sitting next to her and she scooted as far away as she could.

"Are you excited for your first official outing from the palace?" Almec asked.

"I've had outings." Arcas said.

"Right…. So your name tonight to all my colleagues is Asyk Reve, you are no more than just an old friend." Almec told her.

"Can I not be of anything to you instead?" Arcas asked sarcastically. Almec said nothing and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

Ten minutes later they arrived at the party. Arcas clambered out and patiently waited for Almec to step out. He did and offered his arm, Arcas looked at him in disgust.

"You want this to look like normal don't you?" He taunted. Arcas thought about it… If she didn't complete her mission because of one tiny mishap Maul was going to have her head.

"Fine…" she said angrily and took his arm. They walked together into the party and Arcas looked around, eager to see if she saw anyone who might recognize her. She found no one who would recognize her but instead people she knew. She three senators of the Galactic Senate, Kin Robb, Onaconda Farr, and Orn Free Taa.

She heard someone say her name,

"Uh I'm sorry, what?"

"Can they take your jacket my dear Asyk?" Almec asked sweetly.

"Oh.. Yes thank you." She shrugged off her jacket.

Almec turned to the two guards,

"Stay here and guard the door. We are the last visitors to arrive. No one gets in."

Both guards nodded and took their posts. Arcas began to walk off, but felt Almec grab her arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"To find Valek." Arcas said impatiently.

"How do you think that would look? You just arrived here and already looking for a man. Maul would be disgraced to have a whore among his palace." Almec lectured.

Arcas snapped her arm away from his grasp,

"Alright what do you expect I do?"

"Stay with me for a while and then leave. Think of it as recon." Almec said quickly.

"Lead the way my dear Almec." Arcas said sweetly.

For the next hour Arcas listened to politics and learned a few new subjects in the senate since she had gone missing. Such as the Senate had noticed the sudden quietness of the Pikes and Black Sun. She also met the leader of Mandalore's neignboring planet, Mandallia. Kelisea Vatari. She was a big blue giant with pointy ears. Despite her largeness she tried her best to make herself elegant by wearing a red and gold dress with a black headdress decorated with black hanging stones. Arcas cleared her throat,

"What is your relationship to Mandalore?"

Almec looked horrified,

"Asyk!"

"What? I am new to the palace. I have not been very well educated to who Mandalore's allies are!"

Kelisea's eyes smiled,

"My planet is Mandalore's backup army in case the palace's guards aren't enough. Our history goes far back to when Mandalorian warriors were searching and found our humble planet. My ancestors quickly beat their guns, but we respected the warrior spirit and so our allegiance began."

Arcas processed this, so Mandalore had an off world army, how quaint.

"That is quite the accomplishment. I'm sure that puts you in high favor of the council if you ever need anything." Arcas said sweetly. Kelisea smiled,

"It does."

Arcas looked around and saw Almec's little nerf herder friend, Groznik. dressed in a very worn out suit and a floppy hat. She focused on listening and heard him whispering his secrets about his nysillan plants. She saw that no one was very interested, due to Almec's quiet urging. She was more interested in trying to find that bounty hunter of Almec's. Arcas was hoping maybe she could use him as bait to get herself out of Maul's clutches, but he was no where in sight. She did find Valek and he was more charming in person. He was wearing a silk loose blue shirt, a black tie, with dark slacks and shiny shoes. His black hair pointed up in the ends and had silver tips. He also had goatee and a small beard. His skin was bronze and what intrigued Arcas the most was his bright green eyes. He was standing with a bunch of security men of his own talking to a few girls who were brought as escorts.

Finally Almec gave her leave to perform her mission. She made her way to the refreshment table, making sure to catch eyes with Valek. She suspected he would not be able to take his eyes off of her and he would follow her to the table. Soon enough she heard his soft footsteps.

"Excuse me, I have never seen you before and you are gorgeous. What's your name?" he asked, thinking he was smooth. Arcas batted her eyes at him,

"Asyk."

"Well Asyk, would you please join me for a drink at the open bar here?" Valek asked.

"If you buy." Arcas answered, sounding hopeful.

"Of course!" Valek said excitedly. They walked to the bar and leaned against the counter. Valek opened his mouth,

"The best scotch you've got. A queen like this lady deserves only the very best!"

the bartender handed Arcas a glass half full of the maple gold liquid. Arcas took it and smiled,

"Why thank you."

She took a sip and felt it's smoothness run down her throat. She knew Valek was trying to get her drunk, so she would make sure she drank very slowly.

"So who are you here with?" Valek asked.

"Oh me? I'm here with that miserable Almec." Arcas answered.

"Ouch. How'd such a prize like you get stuck with a slagger like him?" Valek asked, intrigued.

"Ah… I owed him a favor." Arcas said half truthfully.

"Haha what, did you screw his brother?" Valek joked.

"How rude! No I was… running from my past and his people gave me a place to stay and wipe my past clean." Arcas said.

"That IS quite the favor. At least it's repaid in full though." Valek said, signaling for his own drink.

"Not quite. I still don't have a place to go. I only ever trained for one job, so it's kinda difficult for me to find another." Arcas said.

"And what job would that be?"

"Err… a pilot!"

Valek's eyes shot up,

"Really?"

"Uh… yes." Arcas said, a little nervous now.

"I could use a pilot…" Valek mused.

"Well the problem is I'm not like most pilots. I don't take the first job offered to me. I have to know who my employer is and what they're job is." Arcas explained.

"Well it's no secret what my career is." Valek said, taking a sip of scotch.

"It is to me." Arcas said innocently.

"Haha you are different! I am the CEO of Gorgiou Industries. I mine phobium and sell it. But not to little companies or individuals. I sell it to big well known companies and very well known people." Valek explained.

"Mind being naughty and tell me who?" Arcas said, "Just in case I'm a girl ever looking for work?"

Valek looked into her pale blue eyes,

"I wish I could dollface. But to stay big you gotta keep secrets."

Arcas quickly went over options in her head. She wasn't going to get the information she needed with chit chat. He was obviously a scum bag for girls, but that could be her opening to get what she needed. She laid a hand on his thigh and began to caress it,

"How do you stay big?"

She saw Valek gulp, but stay calm. He reached a hand up and reached underneath her hair and pulled her head closer to his. She knew what he was going to do.

Suddenly, a force pulled her back. Thinking it was Almec Arcas turned around,

"Almec, honestly! You don't need to coddle…" she then saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring back at her. She shot Valek a look,

"Excuse me handsome. I'll be right back. I just need to have a quick chat with my guard about BOUNDARIES."

Valek waved a hand,

"I'll be here doll!"

Arcas and the guard quickly walked to a quiet corner,

"Are you out of your damn mind?! Do you know how close I was to getting the information you wanted?!"

"What I saw was you dropping your self respect for a pig!" Maul hissed out from under the helmet.

"Sometimes we have to do things we're not proud of to get the mission done. Now we can either leave and blow that mission or I can go back and complete it. Your choice, _master._"

Maul debated it, not sure what to do.

"Complete it. But not that way. I will not have a slut in my halls."

Arcas walked away, heading back to Valek.

"I'm sorry handsome. My guard just wanted to know who I was conversing it." Arcas said simply.

"No problem. I didn't move an inch." Valek smiled,

"Now where were we?"

He went back in for the kiss, but Arcas shoved him away,

"The mood's killed. Let's find something else to do."

She got up and walked to the stairs. This was a private building, but she figured that maybe if she could get Valek away from the crowd he might open up a little bit more. She was happy to see he was following her.

At the top of the stairs she saw it a hallway filled with paintings of noblemen and landscapes. She extended her hand,

"Care to walk with me?"

Valek flashed a smile and took her hand.

They strode the hall for a bit stopping to look at the paintings.

"I want you to be my pilot." Valek said, "So I can take that gorgeous face with me everywhere I go."

Arcas caressed his face,

"I can't leave. Not just yet."

Valek's face fell.

"But when I can… How can I find you?" Arcas asked, acting like she was really going to come back to him.

"Ask any of my clients for my business." Valek said simply.

"Valek! How am I suppose to ask clients whose names I don't know because you haven't told me!" Arcas asked playfully, pushing him a little bit.

"Oh right… well a handful are. Orn Free Taa, Onoconda, Duchess Satine, Palptine, Dooku, Senator Chuchi." Valek said.

"But what if I want to go straight to the source? Such as your home?" Arcas asked.

"Here, this is a holographic map of Gargon. That map will lead you straight to my headquarters. But make it quick. That map has a duration of 24 hours and then it self destructs." Valek handed her a little datapad. She smiled,

"Thank you Valek. You've given me everything I've ever wanted."

He went to kiss her again when her comlink started beeping. She pressed the button. Almec's voice rang through,

"Asyk! Where are you? It is time to leave. I have matters to attend to back at the palace!"

"I'll be right there Prime Minster! Give me 10 minutes." She shut the comlink off,

"I guess this is good bye. I'll see you soon. If I don't make it, forget about me." She waved her hand as she did this, using a common jedi mind trick.

"If I don't see you… forget about you…" Valek repeated. Arcas used the opportunity to slip away.


End file.
